Minnesota Planetarium Society
Summer Solstice Celebration 2009
Monday June 22nd, 2009

This event is co-sponsored by the Library Foundation of Hennepin County.  Here is your chance to  -- travel past the Sun out into the universe through the Society's ExploraDome sky theater, that has been wowing school kids throughout Minnesota -- learn something new about astronomy and telescopes from the Minnesota Astronomical Society, and -- expose your kids to the world of Astronomy through astronomically-related games, music and special guests.  We also hope you’ll take this opportunity to see the future site of the Minnesota Planetarium and learn more about how we can make it a reality.

Schedule
4:00 – 8:00    ExploraDome programs on the half hour *
   
4:30 – 7:00    Sungazing with the Minnesota Astronomical Society
   
6:00 – 6:30      Live -  In Concert with the Cosmos part I - featuring musician Michael Monroe
Pohlad Hall

6:30 – 7:00     Live from New York - Tour of the Cosmos:– featuring Dr. Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization, Hayden Planetarium
Pohlad Hall

7:00 – 7:30     Live -  In Concert with the Cosmos part II - featuring musician Michael Monroe
Pohlad Hall

* ExploraDome programs will be held on the half-hour.  The dome holds 25 at a time, so reservations are recommended.  To reserve your spot, please send your name, phone number or email, and time (by the half-hour) to sally@mplanetarium.org OR 651-999-7300.  The 6:00 presentation is full. No reservations are needed for other events.

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Hello everyone,
I hope you have had time to recover from our big bash on Monday night. It was a smashing success, and it wouldn't have been without the help of our wonderful staff and volunteers.

Special thanks to:

• Parke Kunkle, Larry Foster, and Jackie LaVaque for braving the heat all four hours, giving solar views to an estimated 400 visitors
• Ben Huset of the Minnesota Astronomical Society for documenting the event:
  http://freemars.org/mnfan/MN-Planetarium/2009-06-Summer-Solstice-Celebration/
• Ed Ferlauto and Peggy Leppik for managing the crowds at the ExploraDome
• Joe Szczesniak, Christina Hu, our Americorps volunteers and students from Patrick Henry High School for providing lots of fun for the kids in attendance
• Angus Vaughan, Paula Fahey, and Nate Laible for managing the MNPS informational tables
• Mike Grotenhuis for his wonderful ExploraDome shows
• Joel Halvorson for the "Live from New York" with Carter Emmart and "Cosmic Concert" with Michael Monroe Uniview presentations in the auditorium--I heard rave reviews!
• An extra special thanks to the coordinating crew of Sandra Larson, Franzi Schneider-Krumpus, Jess Irwin, and Tom Zahler for all their work in advance to make this celebration the success that it was!
• The biggest thanks go to Mike Nelson of the library staff. He's "just the loading dock man" by his words but he was there to help solve all of our problems for the duration.

If I've forgotten anyone, please forgive me. I wasn't able to make the rounds to all the stations so I may not have talked with you.

The attendance at the ExploraDome was 148--not quite at capacity even though we were 100% booked prior to the event. We were able to seat many walk-ins, though, which was wonderful!

I can't speak to the attendance for the activities and the auditorium events, but things were hopping up there all night so I'm sure it was great!

A great deal of work was put into this event, and I think it was well worth it, especially for making the planning of future events much easier. I hope we have many more to come!

-- Sally Brummel
Education Outreach Coordinator
Minnesota Planetarium Society

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Web Pages by Ben

Photos by Ben Huset

Last revision 06-25th, 2009
by Ben

Counter started 06-22th, 2009   -
Comments welcome