Rathdrum 19-year-old inside that rockin’ T-Rex costume

RATHDRUM — A prehistoric mystery has been solved.

Jake Ford, 19, of Rathdrum, is the young man behind the dancing, waving, ukulele-playing T-Rex that was out and about in Rathdrum on Sunday. He contacted The Press after seeing Monday's article that asked, "Who's that dino?"

"My favorite thing in life is to make other people smile and laugh," Ford said Tuesday. "I have a personal goal of making at least one person laugh or smile every day."

The iSucceed Virtual High School senior decided to don the inflatable dinosaur costume and "wander around being goofy" because he was bored. He figured everyone else is bored during these quarantine times, so why not shake things up a bit?

"It’s that sense of happiness," Ford said. "It makes me feel happy that I'm able to make other people happy."

Ford is no stranger to the world of entertainment. He started going out in the dino costume earlier this year, just for kicks. As the child of a deaf parent, he is active in the American Sign Language community and performs each fall in the Handsful of Stories annual storytelling event that celebrates this unique aspect of deaf culture.

And as an online student who has been conducting schoolwork via the internet for some time, he also understands the need for people to see other people doing positive things in person, especially now.

"Proverbs 17:22 says, 'A joyful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit saps one's strength,' so I wanted to spread some joy around during this hard time," Ford said. "That's my favorite scripture in the Bible. It describes my outlook in life in general."

He said he's got his eye on more fun outfits, including a Godzilla costume that will surely turn some heads.

Ford doesn't have a set schedule for when he'll bring out the dino again.

“But he will reappear," Ford promised.