Rachel Thompson/News-Register##Carlton Observatory founder Janet Zuelke, left, and Bill Mackie, a retired physics professor from Linfield, demonstrate the laws of motion during the Science Fest

Rachel Thompson/News-Register##George Fox University brings its 25-foot inflatable planetarium to schools and events at no charge, with the mission of providing science as education. Carlton Observatory partners with them and has helped run it at locations, including Amity, Gervais and Portland.

Rachel Thompson/News-Register##Plasma ball entertains and educates at Saturday’s Science Fest, hosted by Carlton Observatory at Evergreen Aviation Museum. Participants placed lightbulbs, foil, coins, and other conductors against the glass, filled with gases and a high-voltage electrode. This affects the current’s flow through filament, creating colorful tendrils of light.

Rachel Thompson/News-Register##Grace Morrison, age 11, of Salem, reacts as she learns about inertia, Newton’s First Law, at Saturday’s Science Fest at Evergreen.

Rachel Thompson/News-Register##Below: A crowd of delighted children, and adults, watch presenters Janet Zuelke and Bill Mackie. Zuelke said of the annual event, “It’s been the best. Even from the volunteer standpoint — for me, as the director of this thing, I want them to have as much fun as everybody coming. The whole thing, it’s everything that the Carlton Observatory is about. This. This is what we want to do.”

Rachel Thompson/News-Register##“Mercury: mean surface temperature 350 degrees”: planetarium Caitlin Hudson and Roger Pence are surrounded by solar system images and information.

Photo Gallery: Science Fest expands, electrifies

[Updated 3/18/25 with photos; original story below]

The Carlton Observatory at Evergreen will host its annual Science Fest from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 15, in the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.

Admission is free for all ages, but registration is required at the website carltonobservatory.com.

The festival will include hands-on experiments, demonstrations and interactive workshops. Physics, chemistry, earth sciences, robotics, rocketry and astronomy will be included.

In addition, this year’s event will feature a 25-foot inflatable planetarium, StarLab, from George Fox University.

Visitors also will see the desktop satellite tracker created by 13-year-old Zeke Wheeler, who worked with his dad, a Newberg native, to set it up at the museum last year. The connection allowed students to talk to astronaut Sunitra Williams as the International Space Station passed over McMinnville.