Bay Area to Host Science Fair

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi joined San Francisco Mayor Ed  Lee today to announce a weeklong science festival that will be taking place  around the Bay Area this fall.
    The first-ever Bay Area Science Festival -- a series of events,  activities and tours celebrating the region's role in scientific progress --  is set to take place from Oct. 29 through Nov. 6.
    "There's no place better than the San Francisco Bay Area" to hold  such an event because of the region's history of scientific innovation,  Pelosi said at today's announcement at University of California at San  Francisco's Mission Bay campus.
    The festival will begin with one of three "Discovery Days," free  large-scale events with hands-on experiments, demonstrations and exhibits,  and family-oriented artistic performances.
    The Discovery Day on Oct. 29 will be held at California State  University East Bay in Hayward, while the other two will be held on Nov. 5 at  Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and at AT&T Park in San Francisco, according to  organizers.
    The weeklong science festival will also include a "Bay Area Star  Party" on the night of Nov. 5 in which a number of local space observatories  will be open for telescope viewing.
    The San Francisco Public Library and Peninsula Library System are  also partnering to encourage people to read "Packing for Mars," a non-fiction  book by Bay Area author Mary Roach that looks at the science of space travel.
    Roach will be at the San Francisco Main Library on Nov. 2 for a  conversation with Adam Savage, co-host of the TV show "Mythbusters."
    Bay Area school districts will also coordinate a region-wide  science experiment overseen by local scientists as part of the Global Water  Challenge.
    Lee said he was "very, very excited" about the festival, which  will hopefully attract young people to pursue a career in science.
    "It is the future of our city," he said.
    The Bay Area is joining San Diego, Philadelphia and the Boston  area in hosting one of the four federally funded science festivals, Lee said.
    For more information about the festival, visit  www.bayareascience.org.