Energy Day Festival

Energy Day Festival takes over Sam Houston Park on Saturday, October 17, from 11 AM to 3 PM. It's Houston's largest free family STEM festival, and for those four hours, the park turns into a giant outdoor playground for K-12 students and their families. The whole thing is built around science, technology, engineering and math, with more than 70 interactive experiments, exhibits and demonstrations spread across the grounds.

If you're bringing kids, there's plenty to keep them moving. The lineup includes a Future Me Career Quiz, Pedal Power, Hydration vs. Reaction, a Potato Battery and a Slime Lab. It's the kind of day where you can walk from one station to the next and let the kids actually touch and do things rather than just watching a presentation.

There's a bit more to it than a single afternoon, too. The festival is the culminating celebration of the Consumer Energy Education Foundation's year-round Energy Day Academic Program, a circuit of citywide STEM and energy competitions for Houston-area schools that awards $25,000 to participating students and educators. CEEF is a nonprofit that picked up a 2020 World Oil Award for its outreach, and they run the day alongside the Consumer Energy Alliance. CEA President and CEEF founding board member David Holt says the idea is to make science fun, accessible and real for students. The event is supported by sponsors including the American Petroleum Institute, CenterPoint Energy, Chevron, Devon Energy, Sempra Infrastructure and Weatherford International.

It's free to attend, so you can just show up with the family and spend as much or as little time as you like. You'll find it at Sam Houston Park, 1000 Bagby St in downtown Houston, running from 11 AM to 3 PM on Saturday, October 17.