No, the dinosaur in the picture was not seen wandering through Rochester, but one somewhat like it does have a connection to Rochester. The site of Mass Auto Tunes at 15 New Bedford Road (a spot where Mr. Arenberger once parked his buses) was home to Fiberglass Specialties beginning in 1983. There, owner, Jeff Gonsalves, and his employees created, among other things, replacement parts for Alvin, the Wood’s Hole’s submersible vehicle, and aquariums, at Mystic Connecticut to others in Nassau and on the west coast. The last one was for the Miami Science Museum. If you saw the Adam Sandler movie, “Grown Ups,” the giant tires that were in it were also made by Rochester’s Fiberglass Specialties.
Now back to the dinosaur. Perhaps their most interesting creation was a 60-foot dinosaur for the Boston Museum of Science. They had to make it lying down (the dinosaur, not the workers) because it was taller than their building. At that time, Gonsalves had 15 employees working on the dinosaur. During the time they were building it, parents would stop with their children on the way to school to check on the progress of the huge lizard. It was built in two sections and when it was shipped to the Boston museum, it took two flatbed trucks; one for the body and one for the tail. I’m sure it got a lot of second glances on the highway.
By Connie Eshbach