Over 150 free events put on by over 250 organizations state-wide for this upcoming science-themed celebration:

The Arizona SciTech Festival will take place February-March 2012 and will offer a series of hands-on activities and workshops, conversations and debates, exhibitions, concerts, guided walks and tours.

28 events in Pima County alone, too numerous to list. Pick up a brochure (I got mine at Bookman’s on Grant/Campbell), or go online at www.azscitechfest.org, find the Events Calendar, click on Pima County:

http://azscitechfest.org/events

Some of these science events with coincide with Tucson Gem & Mineral Show (Feb. 9), the Tucson Festival of Books (March 10 & 11), and the UA Living Beyond 100 series of six lectures, which I blogged about yesterday (click here), which runs from January 24 to February 28.

One of the highlight events in Tucson appears to be the one on Sat. Feb. 18 – Science in the City-

“Arizona Technology Council, Providence and Downtown Tucson Merchants: Experience science in downtown as never seen before with interactive science activities, demonstrations and exhibits. Features include downtown merchants demonstrating the science of their profession and interactive science exhibitions form local schools”.

Other science related activities such as Zero Gravity and Mathematics Road Show will be in the Interactive Park on Congress. Tucson schools and Pima JTED will showcase their projects at various venues including the Children’s Museum Tucson, Science Downtown, and the Pima County Joel D. Valdez Main library. Where: Congress St. Movie & Interactive Park, Scott Ave. and Stone Ave. When: 2 to 6 pm. Cost: Free.

Sounds like a great way to get your child/ren interested and passionate about science as a career. Or to renew your own interest in science and technology. So mark your calendars for any of these SCITECH Festival events.

And don’t forget to check out the Mars & Beyond exhibit in the Rialto Building at 300 E. Congress St., scheduled to be there till June. I visited it on January 7 and found several of the exhibits quite fascinating, esp. a 3 dimensional globe depicting each of the planets and moons, and a film about the Hubble Space Station with incredible images from outer space.

Every month on the 2nd Saturday of the month, our dilemma is what to do downtown on Congress Street. Should we go to a concert the Fox Tucson Theatre, or listen to music at the Scott Avenue Stage, or watch a Cinema La Placita movie at the big empty lot on Congress Street, or, or, or….

There’s so much to do that the choices are overwhelming. Sometimes it’s just fine to walk along and about Congress Street between the Hotel Congress and the Fox Theater, and just enjoy the Parasol Project mute performers, the street minstrels, the circus folks on stilts, the food wagons, classic cars, the children enjoying their world of fun. And don’t miss the monthly athletic acrobatics of Les Avenge (this month at the SW Corner of Congress St./Stone Ave. 6pm-10pm).

Since August, 2011 a group of independent film makers have been showing free films on 5th Avenue:

The Short Film Showcase is a major event in Tucson, Arizona and will be a revolving event that will take place on the second Saturday every month on 5th Ave between Broadway and Congress on the south end on the Rialto Building Patio. Several local talents from Tucson, Arizona will have their shorts screened at this event. It is free to the public and will take place on November 12th, 2011 outside and will start at 7pm and last till 9:00pm. Short Film Showcase Facebook contact –TucsonSFS@groups.facebook.com or Daniel Geffre, geffreap@live.com/520-271-1026 or Yuri Machado, authenticproductions@live.com/520-331-2451.

Right up the street from this Short film Showcase is a brand new urban coffee bar, Sparkroot (for more photos, click here).

Also new to downtown is the Mars & Beyond exhibit in the Rialto building (catercorner from Sparkroot), which opened on October 22. Here’s the description from the 2nd Saturdays Downtown website:

Mars & Beyond 300 E. Congress St. 622-8595. 9am-9pm. The wonders of Earth’s neighborhood, our solar system, in stunning color and clarity, with an emphasis on Mars, including some of the latest cutting edge scientific work by UA teams on NASA’s HiRISE Mars high-resolution orbiting camera, the Phoenix Mars Mission science lab lander, the upcoming OSIRIS-REx, and more.

For the entire event schedule for Nov. 12, click here. And as for food, most of the restaurants are open, plus there’s all types of inexpensive food at the wagons parked along the south side of Congress Street between Scott Avenue and Stone Avenue. There’s even a booth on Scott Avenue selling delicious-looking, decorated cupcakes.

Enjoy 2nd Saturdays Downtown in November!