Exploratorium Market Days: Fresh New Programs, In Season Now

Series of free, open-air, mini-festivals at Pier 15 begins July 20, 2013

A juicy new series of free Exploratorium programs for all ages is ripe for the picking on San Francisco’s Embarcadero this summer. Exploratorium Market Days brings together scientists, artists, and educators to present an abundant bazaar of delicious new ideas and activities in the Exploratorium’s public plaza at Pier 15 on the third Saturday of each month from July through October, 2013.

Just a short walk from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, the Exploratorium’s Market Days will offer a bounty of free entertainment – from startling encounters with cutting-edge technology (think personal submersibles and green energy innovations), to sensory explorations of spices and herbs, to transformations of trash into wondrous new masterpieces.

Exploratorium Market Days kicks off on Saturday, July 20, 2013, with Local Motion – a celebration of the myriad ways people, machines and animals get around. See a William Gibson-esque science fiction dream come to real life with a demonstration of the Ekso™ bionic suit, a human “exoskeleton” that powers people with lower-extremity paralysis to be able to walk and stand. Look for a troupe of wooden art bikes, a horseless carriage, the DeepFlight Super Falcon (a personal submarine), and a 45-foot-long dragon boat. Play on a pedal-powered ferris wheel, test the physics of skateboarding in the Exploratorium’s brand new Ciencia Publica skateboarding parklet, or try out a challenging wheelchair obstacle course with Whirlwind Wheelchair International. Learn how birds of every feather get around on the ground with a chicken foot dissection by Exploratorium biologist Dr. Karen Kalamuck. Grab a bite at one of Curiosity Catering’s food trikes, or build a stomp rocket with Explorables volunteers during this day of kinetic celebration.

In August, consider the creative potential of trash with Market Days: Trashformation.  It’s a firsthand look at the innovative ways engineers, artists and creative thinkers in the Bay Area are re-using materials and creating new technologies to build a more sustainable future. Get energized by the Power Pallet, a carbon negative power generation system from Berkeley’s All Power Labs, which was originally designed as an art project for Burning Man 2007. Now, nearly 500 Power Pallets are being used across the globe, including by rural power projects in Haiti and by the U.S. Department of Defense. Experience an otherworldly visit from the Y.E.S. (Youth Educational Spacecraft) Project, a mobile spaceship classroom made with repurposed objects built by kids from the Tenderloin and Hunters Point Boys and Girls Clubs. September’s harvest season will bring Market Days: Savor Faire, featuring colorful and piquant investigations into salt, herbs and spices.

Exploratorium Market Days is on the third Saturday of each month from July-October 2013, starting on July 20, 2013. Events are from 11:00am-3:00pm in the free public plaza in front of Pier 15. Admission to the museum is $25 for adults, with lower rates for SF Bay Area residents, youth, seniors, students, teachers and the disabled. Advance tickets are available online at www.exploratorium.edu/visit/tickets.