I’m a long-time supporter of the Flagstaff Festival of Science (Festival). The Festival sparks curiosity, highlights all the outstanding research going on locally, and brings the community together in the spirit of exploration and discovery. Some may not know that the Festival is more than the Best 10 Days of the Year. They provide in-classroom scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs so that Flagstaff’s students can experience the real-world applications of what they’re learning in school and have scientific and engineering lessons reinforced by practitioners. They also offer year-round community events. All of this for FREE to the public. This means that every child, every family and individual, every public school can participate and explore at no cost to them.

Flagstaff as we know it was built on research and discovery. Percival Lowell chose this place to set up his telescopes and the U.S. Naval Observatory located under our dark skies to conduct crucial optical and near-infrared astronomy.

Northern Arizona University began by creating future educators and is now home to more than 100 programs that are health, engineering, forestry, and manufacturing focused. The U.S. Geological Society found a vast expanse of water and geology to explore and study and then helped to train every astronaut who has ever walked on the moon. Add in local companies Poba, Machine Solutions, and Katalyst, plus Coconino Community College, the Arboretum, the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and State Parks system—and you see that Flagstaff is a magnet for creative thinking, problem solving, stewardship, and research.

The Festival is the entity that ties the research institutions, natural resource managers, entrepreneurs, science-based nonprofits, and our community together. Staff and board members of the Festival are tapped into these organizations and skilled at putting all the people and information together to give the Flagstaff community the gift of knowledge and the spirit of fun.

The Festival brings top-notch speakers and researchers to Flagstaff for their opening keynote presentation, invites residents and visitors to areas and sites many of us have never been, shows us that incredible science encircles us, and encourages adults to don the curiosity of children and ask lots of questions.

Year round, the Festival serves as a creative nerve center for Flagstaff. It serves us personally, as the best science tutors for schoolchildren, and helps Flagstaff’s economic development efforts. The City of Flagstaff’s Economic Development Strategic Plan focuses on Flagstaff’s strength in the sciences and technology, and I hope that today’s Flagstaff schoolchildren will one day be Flagstaff’s entrepreneurs, astronomers, geologists, hydrologists, engineers, technology innovators, and happy Flagstaff residents.

Our community—and really northern Arizona—would be poorer without the Flagstaff Festival of Science and all the programming it brings us year round. They operate with a small staff and an enthusiastic group of board members and other volunteers who bring significant value to Flagstaff. They are so worthy of our support—as a sponsor, an individual donor, a foundation, or through a donor-advised fund. With our support, the Festival will continue to enlighten, inspire, and spark the age-old desire to know more about the world around us. Because of us and our active support, the Festival will continue for the next 26 years and beyond!

I just talked myself into making another donation right now! I hope you will too.