Countdown to ‘Lift Off’: CuriOdyssey celebrates 60th anniversary with flight-themed festival

“We’ve been educating kids with hands-on experiences with animals and science and really hoping to educate the next generation of science learners. So the significance is we’re contributing to the future generation of scientists,” said CuriOdyssey Marketing Manager Hillary Hempstead. “We kind of saw the idea of lift propelling us forward into another 60 years of science learning for kids.”

Welcomed handsy visitors can tinker with flight-bound objects such as rockets, create parachutes and paper airplanes and construct magnetic levitating cars. Attendees can also play with a Pneumatic Ball Launcher, a brand-new science exhibit that uses air pressure to launch a Ping-Pong ball into the air.

The festival kicks off 9:55 a.m. with a special stomp rocket firing, parachutes will be launched 3 p.m. and the program runs through 4 p.m. Activities throughout the day include performances by Rebels Elite cheerleaders, ribbon dancing by Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company and the San Jose Spiders Ultimate (Frisbee) Team.

The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory will also lead a program about exploring lift from a bird’s point of view and a trained falcon will fly full circles for the crowd.

Visitors will also get to see CuriOdyssey’s first-ever art installations. More than 200 pinwheels have been strategically positioned along the outside of the center’s building to capture wind at various angles.

“The wind, you can’t really see unless it’s in the trees. This exhibit kind of makes that invisible phenomenon visible,” Hempstead said.

CuriOdyssey’s Director of Exhibits Eric Maschwitz designed this permanent public art exhibit. Staff also helped to build the pinwheels that a professional crew fabricated and installed this week, Hempstead said.

“It highlights the chaotic nature of the wind. … It becomes a textured motion over the pinwheels as they capture different wind currents,” Maschwitz said. “The idea was also to break up the gray box of our building with this undulating river of color.”

Artist Mark Brest van Kempen also created a massive art installation with more than 100 weather vanes.

Visitors will not only get to see a spectacular visual display of wind through art, they’ll be able to interact with it by dancing with ribbons and learning techniques on the ultimate way to throw a Frisbee, Hempstead said.

CuriOdyssey has grown over the last 60 years into a child-focused place to explore, Hempstead said. Previously, it was known as the Coyote Point Museum and in 2011 changed its name to reflect how the organization has developed, Hempstead said.

“Our science education philosophy has evolved to a more experiential science learning. Letting kids ask ‘why?’ Ask questions and make discoveries on their own,” Hempstead said. “We think it better describes the experience that kids will have when they come to CuriOdyssey; because it’s kind of a curious journey.”

CuriOdyssey provides year-round programs for children, families and school groups that Hempstead said offers experiences not typically available in a classroom. With a new raccoon exhibit, daily bobcat feedings and birds galore, the Lift Off Festival is an opportunity to celebrate what the nonprofit has to offer.

“Kids don’t always get the opportunity to get those real work experiences with inquiry and investigation. Sometimes they just read about it in books, but to really learn and understand science, it’s very important to be able to do it and test hypotheses and see what works and what doesn’t work,” Hempstead said. “So we really offer a space to experiment with science on their own.”

The Lift Off Festival is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free for kids 2 years old and younger, $6 for children between 2 and 12 and $9 for adults. Parking at Coyote Point is $6. For more information about CuriOdyssey visit www.curiodyssey.org.

samantha@smdailyjournal.com

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