The Witte Museum continues with its massive re-tooling. On August 18, officials introduced "Quetzy" to a crowd of about 150 museum lovers, board members and dignitaries gathered on the Broadway side of the Witte. The museum's facade looks nothing like it did a year ago. Much of it has been demolished, leaving a gaping hole where a portable stage had been set.
“The new Witte transformation is a hundred million dollar expansion. It’s a once in a hundred year transformation,” said Witte President Marise McDermott.
It’s also more than 100,000 square feet expansion of the old Witte. The celebration had a pep rally vibe as H-E-B presented a $2 million gift check, then something unexpected happened. A dozen young drummers began pounding out a rhythm and 60 people from the crowd ran to the area in front of the stage to form a size-accurate shape of the huge bird-like dinosaur called Quetzy the Quetzacoatl that will hang above the entrance when it opens in the spring of 2017.
“Thank you Bruce for being the beak over there,” said McDermott addressing former San Antonio Spur Bruce Bowen, who was in the position of Quetzy’s beak. Those 60 museum supporters represented the size the Quetzy will be when it hangs in the new entrance to the Witte.
“This is the actual size of the Quetzacoatl.”
When it comes to expansions and dinosaurs and press conferences, size matters, so McDermott described Quetzy in real terms.
“So this is a six foot head. Eight feet—like a giraffe almost—head, and the wings are not quite 32 feet because we can’t quite fit 32 feet, we’re going to have to kinda go like this with it.”
She raised one arm and lowered another to show how Quetzy will hang in the entrance. Of note, the Quetzacoatl dinosaur was actually native to San Antonio.
“They walked here and flew right here.”
For more on the Witte Museum expansion, go here.
