THUNDER BAY – It’s been a big week for Science North. The day after the organization announced it’s looking at opening permanent science centres in both Thunder Bay and Kenora, it hosted record crowds at its science carnival, the final event in its eighth annual Thunder Bay Science Festival.
Organizers estimated attendance reached into the thousands at the Victoriaville Mall Saturday afternoon, with families drawn to the carnival’s mix of fun and learning. Senior scientist Emily Kerton says striking that balance is key to Science North’s efforts to get the public engaged in science education.
“We like to say we kind of trick people into learning, because we make it so much fun they kind of forget they are learning,” she explains. “It’s important to have a good balance, and I feel like that comes with our exhibitors – we have some who are talking about more technical things, and some who are really just for fun.”
Many of the event’s over 20 exhibits were crowded with children eager to get a glimpse of live animals and insects, touch animal pelts, or take in Science North’s mini planetarium. Many exhibitors offered kids and adults alike the chance to get hands-on.
One of those was Sault Ste. Marie-based Entomica Insectarium, where Executive Director Michael Odom drew a permanent crowd with his friend Rosie, a Chilean rose hair tarantula. Odom encouraged visitors to hold the spider, eliciting responses that ranged from enthusiastic to downright terrified. He says the presence of eye-catching creatures like Rosie helps draw people in to learn more about natural science.
“Our main focus is on educational outreach programming, so we’ll go to science festivals, we’ll go into senior’s homes, we’ll go into schools,” he says. “We take our arachnids and our arthropods and teach people a bit more about the natural world and the insects all around them.”
Other exhibitors included Parks Canada, EcoSuperior, Ontario Power Generation, Thunder Bay Field Naturalists, Ontario Parks, and the Thunder Bay Library, which showed off its nature lending library collection. The event also offered fun and entertainment with face-painting, clowns, and musical performances by Jean-Paul De Roover.
The carnival capped the nearly week-long science festival, which also included a STEM challenge for high school students, a “Nerd Nite” at the Sleeping Giant Brewery, and a Climate Connections event featuring a climate change researcher from Peawanuck First Nation.
For Kerton, the carnival was the perfect way to conclude the week, bringing her organization’s mission to an enormous number of people.
“There’s no [other] place where we can interact with this number of people in a way that’s celebrating science,” she says. “We go into schools and do adult events, and those are great, but the chance to grab the family unit and have them experience science in a totally fun and different way is the one that stands out, for sure.”
