Virginia's First Annual Science Festival

The Virginia Science Festival is a large-scale, highly visible outdoor event that provides opportunity for engagement and exchange between children, teens, families, and local scientists. This all-day affair, which will take place on October 4 in Blacksburg and October 11 in Roanoke, from 10 am to 4 pm, will feature more than 100 exhibitors, who will provide hands-on activities, live performances, interactive demonstrations, and family-oriented science entertainment.

Listening to an orchestra comprised of laptops.

Designing a lunar rover with parts made in a 3-D printer.

Extracting DNA from a strawberry ... or holding in your hand a tarantula's molt.

The Virginia Science Festival: Imagination to Innovation brings together the worlds of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM). Organized by the Science Museum of Western Virginia and Virginia Tech, the first-ever Virginia Science Festival begins Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014, in Blacksburg, and concludes Oct. 11, 2014, in Roanoke. The honorary co-chairs of the event are U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.

Thousands of families will come face-to-face with amazing research and technical achievements from Virginia's educational, non-profit and for-profit institutions, and enjoy hands-on experiences designed to inspire all ages about the wonders of science.

Among the partners in this endeavor are Virginia Tech, Carilion Clinic, NASA-Langley, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, City of Roanoke, Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council, Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitor's Bureau, Montgomery County and Roanoke City public schools, WDBJ-7, Western Virginia Regional Water Authority, and the Taubman Museum of Art.

In 2013, the Science Museum of Western Virginia was one of only 12 recipients nationwide chosen by Science Festival Alliance to receive a $10,000 grant to help bring the festival to life. Based in Cambridge, Mass., Science Festival Alliance provides funding to help start science festivals via the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which was established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and CEO of General Motors, to support education in STEM and economic performance.

The goal of the Virginia Science Festival is to fascinate families from all over the Commonwealth and provide hands-on, interactive inspiration at a time when STEM careers offer the most opportunity for future employment, social and financial advancement.