Bonnie Stevens
Team Leader
Flagstaff Fourth of July Parade
What was profound to me is that it was so clear how much the Flagstaff Festival of Science and science itself is such a part of the fabric of the community. We were kind of looking at it when we went in as the Fourth of July parade is this thing and we're this thing. Is this going to blend? Does this make any sense? Is this going to be weird? We're not a marching band. We're not demonstrating something with dancers. We're not jumping around necessarily. We're showcasing something else where ours is more of an imagination of the mind, a journey of the mind, perhaps, and if you go that deep with the Science, but if you bring it down to what excites kids, you get there. You get there with what is fun to showcase but I think my takeaway from this would be and something that I believe the board of directors would back me on this in the festival is that it's important to be part of the fabric of the community. We're not just as other thing. We're integrated heavily into this community and it's not a surprise that we're in the parade after all. We should be in the parade. People are happy to have us in the parade and may well expect us to be in the parade in years to come. It's not just a fringy thing to do just because somebody likes parades. It's something that shows support for the community, shows how integrated we are in the community and offers a lot of visibility to the general audience. The general audience includes people from outside the Flagstaff area. It can include all ages. It includes families who can walk down the street go to this parade and don't necessarily have the background or a family support of being taken to be exposed to science events. For all those reasons, it seems so right and not a tough sell anymore when you're talking to other festivals or you're talking to festival board members or donors. It just makes sense and you can make that case for why you need to show up in places like this.