It sounds like a child’s dream and a parent’s nightmare.
It’s the annual MessFest, set for 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 22 at Carnegie Science Center on Pittsburgh’s North Shore.
Science enthusiasts of all ages are invited to take part in the visitor-favorite family event that includes egg-drop challenges, bubble science, slime demonstrations and other messy activities.
Though MessFest is typically held indoors on New Year’s Day, moving it outside as an end-of-summer celebration allows for bigger, more spaced-out and even messier activities, said events marketing manager Megan McKenzie.
“You will get messy,” she said. “We encourage everyone to wear casual clothes.”
Among favorite MessFest activities is the classic elephant toothpaste experiment, which involves mixing hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodide and warm water to create a foamy substance that resembles an elephant’s trunk as expands out of a beaker.
Visitors also will have the opportunity to engineer a contraption to help an egg survive a drop, learn about surface tension with huge bubbles, design squirt gun art, extract DNA from strawberries, make slime in a baggie and earn a chance to plop science center staffers in a dunk tank with correct answers to science trivia questions.
Visitors also can experience high-energy, grossly entertaining programs in the science center’s BodyStage, presented by Allegheny Health Network, including a journey through the gastrointestinal system to see how food is broken down and used by the body.
Admission to MessFest, presented by PPG and sponsored by WISH 99.7, is included with a general admission ticket to the science center. Online timed ticket purchasing is strongly encouraged for all visitors, as the center currently is operating at 50% capacity, McKenzie said.
Staff members will be wearing masks both inside and outside, and the center strongly encourages all visitors age 2 and older to wear masks as well.
The center, including The Rangos Giant Cinema, Highmark SportsWorks and USS Requin submarine, is open daily through Labor Day.
Details: carnegiesciencecenter.org
