The City of Brotherly Science Love

I arrived to the Philadelphia Science Festival way too early on Explorer Sunday (PSF’s science tour day) morning. I hopped in my car and drove 20 minutes to my first stop – the Laurel Hill Cemetery. Not your typical spot for a science event, but the idyllic 70° clear day bolstered my courage to tour the graveyard. We were heading out on a tour with a bird enthusiast who was showcasing how various local species had adapted their migratory and mating patterns to the decades old trees in the cemetery. Before the tour started, I walked into the gift shop and was greeted by cookies and refreshments. I sat down and started chatting with the woman across from me proudly wearing an “I AM AN ENGINEER” button.  And my day was made.    

 I only asked if she had been to any other festival events. She immediately came alive and regaled me with tales from Discovery Days at Clark Park the day prior. The event had 20+ hands-on activities in a park in West Philly, a predominantly African American section of the city with limited science resources. She glowed talking about the robotics demos; she had never seen anything like this growing up in that neighborhood. Back when she was a junior in high school, her class was invited to Drexel University for talks and engineering demonstrations. She was hooked, going on to become an engineer that worked on electrical systems at Cape Canaveral in Florida. She was back to take care of her ailing mother, and beamed with pride that such opportunities existed for her nieces in Philadelphia. Excitedly flipping through her program guide, she strongly encouraged me to attend more festival events. I committed to her that I would be attending many more that week.  That encounter imbued my experience at the 4th Philadelphia Science Festival. I went to over 10 events, at each one I was greeted with genuine enthusiasm, bordering on giddiness, by everyday characters: The volunteer at the Phanatics event who told me that she HAD to volunteer after discovering the festival the year before. The librarian at Cecil B. Moore who said she’d never seen “her” kids so excited about science. The organic farmer who made fresh lemon slushies with local herbs and produce for a group of kids. The fashion designer turned scientist who geeked out on tensile properties of fabric. The Franklin Institute staff member showing off her real I [heart] SCIENCE tattoo. The bartender who claimed that festival beer, Cerebral Pourtex, would make me smarter.    

                   This is my 4th visit to PSF and I’m astounded at its progression. There is an infectious enthusiasm to the festival, underscored by thoughtful and creative programs. From Neighborhood Science, which takes hands-on activities to dozens of local libraries, to the icky Mess Fest, which showed 1,500 kids and families the messy side of science, to the numerous sports-themed activities during Science at the Ballpark, which couldn’t be dampened even by the foul weather.    

 My last event was on the neuroscience of sleep, set to a bedtime story. I entered the Franklin Institute planetarium, milk and cookies in hand, ready to hear short science talks. Instead, I was treated to a sweet bedtime story with brief interludes of the scientists’ talks. It was a wonderful wrapper to reinforce the central content. I strode off to a local bar afterwards to catch the end of a playoff hockey game. Minutes after arriving, I found myself chatting with two strangers who had been at the program and were still chatting about sleep. With the clink of our beers, we said cheers to the festival – a perfect capstone to PSF.