AAA at The City of Science Fair in Washington Square Park

On the last weekend of World Science Festival events in New York, the AAA typically participates in the annual Saturday night of stargazing along the waterfront in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Unfortunately, rainy weather forced event coordinators to cancel.

The good news is that on the following Sunday, June 3rd, the weather improved enough for a fun afternoon with club volunteers at the AAA table in Washington Square Park. My volunteers for the day were Faissal Halim, Gowri Lakshminarayanan, Carey Horwitz, Sasha Polonko, Cole Palatini. The indoor/outdoor event dubbed “City of Science”, was comprised of interactive demonstrations and hands-on activities. We were hoping to do some solar observing as part of this great day of science, but again clouds prevailed. Nonetheless, I’ve found that people are thrilled to look at anything through a telescope, even if it’s a distant spire or a pair of hawks perched on a rooftop. Adults and children alike lined up to have a look through the 80mm Meade refractor I brought along in the unlikely event of clearing. Carey, Gowri and Faissal did a great job, making sure that everyone got a chance to see something through the eyepiece. 

To my surprise, another popular event at our booth was coloring! In the midst of all the tech stuff, the kiddies flocked to our table with crayons in hand to color in the planets of the solar system on pages that I had printed out from the internet. Sasha and Cole had fun with the kids and also ran several raffles for the day. Prizes given out were the newly designed AAA t-shirts, a Moon toy, and two Star Trek dolls. My sincere thanks to all the volunteers who made the day lots of fun in an effort to promote the AAA at this huge science fair.

Consider volunteering for AAA events. It’s a great way to get to know fellow club members and enjoy doing so.