A thousand demonstrations and presentations from more than 150 artists, scientists, students and business professionals filled Downtown Riverside Oct. 12 from 5 p.m. – midnight for Riverside’s fourth Long Night of Art and Innovation.
From high school students showcasing hydroponic projects and their advanced farming technology experiments to Riverside City College showing audiences how to create the perfect vampire bite with stage-effect makeup, the Inland Empire’s best was on display.
“(Riverside’s) tagline is ‘The city of Art and Innovation,’” said Rusty Bailey, mayor of Riverside. “(The event) connects the best and the brightest in our city and brings them to Main Street to show off and demonstrate their talent and their ideas and their experience and their education to the young people.”
Downtown Riverside transformed into a capital of intellect and creativity as it entertained children and adults with captivating presentations and interactive booths.
Among the hundreds of performers and presenters were California Baptist University’s Gordon and Jill Bourns College of Engineering, School of Nursing, Collinsworth School of Music, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Dr. Robert K. Jabs School of Business, Division of Natural and Mathematical Sciences and the College of Architecture, Visual Arts and Design.
Whether parents, students or children were interacting with robotic arms or seeing how the ground shifts during an earthquake through a simulation, participants left the event with an appreciation for something new.
David and Diane Hansen attended the event for the second time and said they enjoy bringing their youngest son to the event because it peaks his curiosity and helps him realize passions and paths he may not notice on his own.
“(The event) is really interesting,” Diane Hansen said. “I always bring my son and he gets introduced to all sorts of different things. Last time, it was 3-D printers and he got so interested in that and he’s in an engineering program now and I really love that.”
The future for Long Night of Art and Innovation, a semi-annual event,aims to continue in celebrating the city of Riverside and the success it has had as well as harvesting the community’s curiosity, intellect and talent.
