Route 1’s Orange Dinosaur Saved from Extinction

Photo by Andrés Monroy-Hernández on Flickr/Creative Commons

Looks like a North Shore icon is here to stay.

The orange dinosaur that’s adorned the former site of Route 1 Miniature Golf Course and Batting Cages for more than 50 years will stay put in Saugus, after its developer agreed to include the bug-eyed reptile in future plans.

Michael Barsamian and his business partner made a deal with golf course owner Diana Fay to keep the orange dinosaur after seeing the public outcry over the possibility it may go the way of its Cretaceous contemporaries. So beloved was the fiberglass sculpture that Chelsea’s Mystic Brewing released a double-IPA in its honor.

“We always wanted him to stay on the land,” Fay told WHDH. “We wanted him to remain home.”

The mini-golf course, which opened in 1959, will remain open until September 25, while its ice cream stand, the Dairy Castle, will close after this weekend. In the meantime, Barsamian said he wants to name the orange dinosaur.