All the Ice Cream You Can Eat

at the

Belmont Bay Science Center ’s Spring Fling

  WOODBRIDGE — Celebrate spring with a huge party. Take a trip on a shock boat. Explore Space Travels. Trek through a wildlife refuge and keep an eye out for an eagle. Test your balance and your reflexes. See a medieval siege machine launch water balloons. Play musical instruments. Meet a pig who paints. And eat plenty of ice cream sundaes. It’s all at the Belmont Bay Science Center ’s Spring Fling on Saturday, March 19, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Spring Fling is at SciencePort Marina on the corner of Harborside and Palisades in Woodbridge , Va.

Splat! A water balloon hits its mark. What is that strange looking machine hurling water balloons? It’s a trebuchet. Trebuchets were used in the Middle Ages to storm enemy castles. Keep your eye out for Smithfield the painting pig. He’s creating art in the afternoon. Ready for a shocking trip? Hop aboard a shock boat handled by Angler Environmental folks. They’re taking you fishing — for live fish. Instead of using standard fishing gear, they send a mild shock through the water and move the momentarily stunned fish to a tank. Take water samples and learn how to identify water creatures with Science Museum of Virginia Scientist Dr. Eugene Maurakis .

Ready for another tour? Hike through the Occoquan Bay National Refuge. Keep an eye out for an eagle or two. After your trip, check out the national refuge’s watershed exhibit. To discover more about the watershed and your environment, visit with Freedom High School Center of Environment Science students. They have an EnviroScape Watershed Model and an activity about who polluted the Potomac . For more science-related activities, visit with people from the Prince William County Public Works Department and students and teachers from Belmont Elementary School .

Stand on a shaky balance board. BZZZZ! Want to stop that noise? Find a way to keep the board level. It’s tricky. Test your reflexes by hitting a button when the buzzer sounds. Take the challenge: can you hit the button faster than your friend? These aren’t carnival games. They’re part of the Science Museum of Virginia’s outreach program BioExpress.

Climb aboard Space Travels to discover why stars shine and find out how much you would weigh on different planets. Get a taste of traveling to Mars and Jupiter at a solar system movie. The 40-foot Space Travels vehicle is a self-contained space environment filled with interactive exhibits. It is a Science Museum of Virginia creation.

Stop by the Potomac Hospital table and calculate your body mass index. Play musical instruments at the Old Bridge Chamber Orchestra exhibit on acoustics. If your creative urge is more along the lines of sculpting, spend some time at the Aquinas Regional School table creating your own polymer similar to Silly Putty. Build a battery with a potato at the Lockheed Martin table.

Now going back to that ice cream. Help yourself to a good scoop of vanilla, donated by Kilroy’s Restaurant, Montclair Country Club and BJs Wholesale Club. Then hit the topping tables. There are chocolate chips from Micron Chip. Add a few Gummy Worms or Gummy Fish from the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Have some Maureen’s Marshmallows courtesy of Prince William Supervisor Maureen Caddigan. Sprinkle on Electrifying Cherries from Dominion Virginia Power. Top it all off with Williams Whipped Cream from the Williams Company. Other toppings, water and paper products for the sundaes come from 11^th District Congressman Tom Davis, Prince William Supervisors Chairman Sean Connaughton, Prince William Supervisor Hilda Barg, Prince William Supervisor Marty Nohe, Cardinal Bank, Fort Belvoir Federal Credit Union, Executive Moving Systems, Montclair Country Club, The John Elkin Family, AFLAC, 95 Partnership Prince William, Lockheed Martin and Virginia Commerce Bank.

Spring Fling is a free event held on the future site of the SciencePort Science. Center in Belmont Bay Town Center in Woodbridge . The riverside site is where the Occoquan and Potomac rivers meet and is adjacent to the new Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Land for the center has been offered by Belmont Bay developer Preston Caruthers. Current plans call for the facility to be up and running in late 2007. 

 Contact Information

2500 West Broad St, Richmond, VA 23220 - (866) 201-2812 - www.bblsc.org