A T. rex named Sue

If people had been around 65 million years ago, they would have been putting as much distance as possible between themselves and Tyrannosaurus rexes like Sue.

Now, though, groups like the one from Bayou Sara Baptist Church near Mobile are going out of the way to get closer to the beast on display at the Anniston Museum of Natural History.

The senior church group is headed home to Saraland along a winding route from a conference in Gatlinburg, taking them right through Anniston — and right into Sue’s lair.

And local businesses are glad to see them.

Jerry Hollingsworth, the minister to senior adults who coordinated the tour, said the group stopped by to see the museum and Sue, but the also will spend the night at the lodge on Cheaha; eat dinner and breakfast in Anniston or Oxford, and fill the church bus’s gasoline tanks somewhere in Calhoun County.

Museum and county officials say having Sue here could be a boost to the county’s economy.

Gina Morey, the Anniston Museum of Natural History’s programs manager, said the group from Saraland are just the start of the out-of-towners who will visit the giant skeleton during its stay here. She already has booked groups of senior adults, scouts and school students from Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, and Jefferson County in Alabama and from Walker, Douglas and Polk Counties in Georgia.

Sue will be here until early January.

Over opening weekend the museum had visitors from Pennsylvania, California, Oregon and Minnesota, according to Museum Director Cheryl Bragg.

She said one couple arrived at the museum first thing Monday, saying they had been traveling from Florida to Memphis, saw a billboard for Sue on Sunday night, and decided to stop, book a room and visit Sue the next morning.

In all 12,500 people already are booked to come see Sue, with about 10,000 of those being school children. More than half of those are from outside Calhoun County, Morey said.

“And they’re still calling,” she said Wednesday.

The groups that come almost always eat, Morey said.

T. rexes like Sue are believed to have eaten between 50 and 100 pounds of food a day. A bus load of middle schoolers might give the dinosaur a run for its money.

Morey said the fast-food restaurants at Lenlock and on Quintard are popular stops for groups in a hurry, while more slow-paced Sue viewers often visit Dad’s Bar-B-Q, Cracker Barrel, Logans or Classic on Noble.

“I find that senior citizen groups love to eat,” Morey said. “We just try to offer them a lot of variety.”

She said many groups ask how to get to the mall or other local shopping areas.

As a general industry-wide rule, out-of-town guests will spend $5 or $6 at other businesses for every $1 they spend at an attraction, according to Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce President Sherri Sumners.

Most of that money will go to retail, restaurants and gasoline.

Local businesses are ready to meet the needs of weary or hungry travelers.

Dad’s general manager, Alvin Johnson, said the restaurant has already had several groups stop by and he hopes the boost in business will continue.

“We’ve had some children come through with their souvenirs,” he said. “They’ve all been excited about seeing the dinosaur.”

Executive director of Spirit of Anniston Betsy Bean said the tourism generated by Sue probably will benefit downtown.

“If guests are here for some length of time and they have to eat, hopefully they’ll come downtown to eat,” she said.

She said she plans to have a promotional poster and informational cards at the museum some time in November, urging people to visit downtown shops and restaurants.

In Oxford, Quintard Mall general manager Carol Cleghorn said it’s tough to know which customers are at the mall because they came to visit Sue, but store managers anticipate some extra traffic. She said a visiting group had contacted one of the food court vendors to set up a visit.

Shops and restaurants aren’t the only businesses that will benefit.

Morey, who is also the programs manager for the Berman Museum of World History, said plenty of groups have decided to make the trip across the parking lot to hit both museums on the same day.

Berman already has booked 1,800 students for the next four months, which Morey said is about how many normally visit in a year.

It may take months before some businesses realize the benefits. Sumners said businesses along traffic arteries would benefit by people seeing their signs.

“If you pass a tax-preparer’s office you aren’t going to want to stop and have your taxes prepared,” she said. “But when it comes time, you may remember where that office is.”

She said that even discounting the money visitors spend, having an exhibit of Sue’s quality here is good for the city, a thing she called “intangible benefits.”

“It raises a lot of eyebrows,” she said. “People see that Anniston is getting this huge exhibit from the Field Museum, and it brings some prestige.”