Beakernight 2015

Last night was Beakernight downtown on 10th Avenue SW. Do you remember way back in when Miranda went to a workshop put on by Cybermentors and made a jellyfish umbrella? Last night was the parade to showcase those and all of the projects in art, science, and engineering put on by the U of C.
The jellyfish parade was from 8.30-9.30p, but there were lots of other interesting displays. There was an LED dragon bike, glowing petrie dish art, robots, a hippo-mobile, a peacock-mobile whose lights moved with the piano music, and other displays.

The kids and I drove to Crowfoot LRT and caught the train downtown. Then we switched to the 69th St. train in order to get to Sunalta C-Train station (it’s an impressive station – just ask Ian). 😀 In the lobby, there was the Cowtown Opera Company singing the soundtracks to the original Star Trek, Dr. Who, and The Imperial March with a Beakerhead theme. (This got Miranda interested in singing opera!) We went downstairs to street level where Conundrum was playing a few sets with there assorted drums and percussion instruments. Ian enjoyed this. We poked around a bit before the jellyfish parade. Someone had souped up a scooter to look like a dragon and it changed colours. Ian got to sit on the Red Dragon. 🙂

While the jellyfish parade were parading, we went into the Art in the Dark presentation. It was amazing: glow in the dark petrie dishes (apparently made from glowing fungus) and these glass boxes with 3D objects in LED lights. Ian got a cow bell bell at this presentation.

We saw a huge robot that you could make talk through a mic and a synth. It was freaky – like the Cylons. We saw a small robot called Bill, a snowmobile that was turned into the Batmobile, and so many people dressed up in costumes.

I’m guessing it’s a big deal each year. We weren’t prepared to stay for a long time since we didn’t know much about it. Maybe next year we’ll take it all in.