Vision and Mission
The North Bay Science Discovery Day is a one-day, free, community science festival sparking curiosity and wonder for science, technology, engineering, and math. The festival brings together 100+ organizations, 10,000+ attendees, supported by 150 volunteers and funded by 70 sponsors, for youth to talk with scientists and engineers while exploring 150+ interactive exhibits including rockets and beehives, robots and sharks, catapults and hearts, animation, animals, art, and more!
Discovery Day is a public education event organized by the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 4-H Youth Development Program.
Vision
A world where all youth enjoy STEM, recognize the intrinsic and practical value of STEM, are workforce ready, are civically engaged and scientifically literate, and able to harness the power of science as a tool to contribute to solving complex environmental, economic, and social issues.
Mission
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To spark young people’s wonder and curiosity about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM);
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To strengthen the San Francisco North Bay’s STEM learning ecosystem; and
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To connect the STEM industry, education, and public sectors to deepen and sustain young people’s STEM learning.
Core Values
From the start in 2011, the North Bay Science Discovery Day has consistently been true to core values. As a result, the festival has developed an excellent reputation as a wonderful event for the community.
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The festival is completely free (including parking) and available to any who show up at the gates.
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The target audience is youth of 4th through 8th grades and designed to engage all ages.
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Exhibitor's participation is accepted based on its ability to engage kids in meaningful ways as well as the quality and appropriateness of STEM content.
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The festival is a non-commercial event; exhibitors do not engage in selling items or fund raising.
Origin and History
The North Bay Science Discovery Day began
in 2011 with the North Bay Leadership Council, Buck Institute, and a National Science Foundation grant through University of California, San Francisco's Bay Area Science Festival. The Buck Institute for Research on Aging recruited a volunteer team to host our first Science Discovery Day. In 2019, the event host transitioned to the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources 4-H Youth Development Program.
National Science Foundation Awards
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Science Festival Alliance (NSF DRL-0840333)
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Broad Implementation of Science Festival Alliance (NSF DRL-1223170)
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EvalFest: Evaluation Use, Value and Learning through Festivals of Science and Technology (NSF DRL-1423050).
The National Science Foundation supported a series of initiatives to establish and expand science festivals across the United States, aiming to increase public engagement with science and technology, particularly among underserved communities. Initially launched through major science festivals in San Diego, San Francisco, Cambridge, and Philadelphia, the effort led to the creation of the Science Festival Alliance, a national network that now supports over 50 festivals annually, reaching millions. These festivals celebrate science through accessible, community-centered events involving scientists, artists, educators, and local institutions. Follow-up funding supported the broad implementation of the Alliance and the development of tools and strategies to engage low-income and diverse audiences. A separate project, EvalFest, developed evaluation tools and a multi-site assessment model to better understand festival impact and improve practice across the informal STEM education field. Together, these efforts helped embed science festivals into local culture, created sustained professional networks, and generated a robust evaluation framework to support the field’s growth and effectiveness.
Festival History
2011: 1st Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
Infineon Raceway, Sonoma
The inaugural North Bay Science Discovery Day welcomed approximately 4,000 visitors and featured about 30 exhibitors. The festival grew from a collaboration involving the North Bay Leadership Council, the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, and a National Science Foundation grant supporting UC San Francisco’s Bay Area Science Festival. The Buck Institute recruited the volunteer team that established the North Bay event as a free, hands-on celebration connecting children and families with scientists, engineers, educators, and local STEM organizations.
2012: 2nd Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
October 27, 2012 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
The second annual festival moved to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds and doubled attendance to approximately 8,000 visitors. Twelve North Bay event sponsors supported more than 40 exhibitors offering hands-on activities in the Hall of Flowers, Garden Building, courtyard, and outdoor areas. Families explored Mars and pulsars, robotics, smartphone applications, GPS and geographic information systems, microscopes, DNA extraction, renewable energy, salmon, insects, wildlife, aviation, watersheds, and the human body. Featured presentations included medical simulations, liquid-nitrogen ice cream, and the Soda and Mentos reaction. The expanded venue and broad mix of universities, schools, museums, businesses, public agencies, and community organizations established the fairgrounds as the festival’s long-term home.
2013: 3rd Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
Sonoma County Fairgrounds
The third annual Discovery Day welcomed approximately 10,000 visitors, continuing the festival’s rapid growth. The event brought North Bay businesses, research institutions, schools, museums, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community groups together around a shared commitment to engaging young people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Its increasing regional visibility reflected the festival’s transition from a new initiative into an established North Bay community tradition.
2014: 4th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
November 1, 2014 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
The fourth annual festival welcomed more than 14,000 visitors, a substantial increase from 10,000 the previous year. Families filled the Sonoma County Fairgrounds for hands-on activities presented by regional educators, scientists, engineers, employers, and community organizations. By 2014, Discovery Day had become one of the North Bay’s largest public educational events and an important regional component of the Bay Area Science Festival.
2015: 5th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
October 24, 2015 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
More than 14,000 visitors attended the fifth annual Discovery Day. The festival maintained the large audience reached in 2014 while continuing to expand the range of interactive science, engineering, technology, health, environmental, and maker activities available to children and families. The sustained attendance demonstrated that Discovery Day had developed a strong regional following and an established network of participating organizations.
2016: 6th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
October 29, 2016 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
Despite rainy weather, the sixth annual Discovery Day attracted at least 15,000 visitors and nearly 100 participating educators, nonprofit organizations, research institutions, and STEM-related companies. Activities included building smartphone applications, modifying robots, viewing sound waves on oscilloscopes, constructing electrical circuits, examining microorganisms, and exploring watershed science. More than 80% of participating children engaged in a hands-on activity with a scientist, illustrating the festival’s growing ability to connect young people directly with STEM professionals.
2017: 7th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
October 28, 2017 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
The seventh annual festival was held shortly after the devastating Tubbs Fire. Community members encouraged the committee to proceed, viewing Discovery Day as a positive and family-centered opportunity during a difficult period of regional disruption. Approximately 10,000 people attended, fewer than in 2016 but still a substantial turnout. Activities included engineering demonstrations, robotics, virtual reality, 3D printing, electronics, and other hands-on experiences offered by universities, libraries, businesses, and community organizations.
2018: 8th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
October 27, 2018 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
Attendance returned to approximately 15,000 in 2018, with families participating in more than 120 hands-on activities. The festival included opportunities to extract DNA, build with robots and engineering materials, explore mobile-library technologies, interact with scientists and student volunteers, and investigate a broad range of STEM subjects. The strong attendance marked the festival’s recovery following the 2017 fires and reinforced its role as a major gathering for the North Bay’s science-learning community.
2019: Planned 9th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
October 26, 2019 | Cancelled
More than 100 hands-on exhibitor booths were prepared for the planned ninth annual Discovery Day. Exhibitors, volunteers, and organizers had completed setup when the festival was cancelled shortly before its scheduled 10:00 a.m. opening because the Sonoma County Fairgrounds was needed as an emergency evacuation and public-safety staging center during the Kincade Fire. The cancellation concluded several consecutive years in which wildfires or their effects disrupted the fall festival. The event’s organizational home also transitioned in 2019 from the Buck Institute to the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources 4-H Youth Development Program, and the committee subsequently moved Discovery Day to the spring.
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NBSDD Newsletter October 16, 2019 "Discovery Day is only DAYS away!
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Educators October 14, 2019 "Get ready for another fabulous Discovery Day!"
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Educators September 23, 2019 "Teacher prep for Oct 26 Discovery Day"
The Late Carole Bennett, EdD, Past Chair
In recognition of Carole Bennett the co-founder and long time committee chair of the NBSDD. A retired teacher at the Computer Science Department of Santa Rosa Junior College, her leadership, passion and hard work helped make the North Bay Science Discovery Day the success it is today
2020: No festival was held due to COVID-19.
2021: 9th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
March 13, 2021 | Virtual
After wildfire smoke disrupted the 2017 and 2018 festivals and the Sonoma County Fairgrounds became an emergency evacuation center shortly before the 2019 event was scheduled to open, Discovery Day moved from fall to spring. The COVID-19 pandemic then prompted the festival’s first fully virtual format. Approximately 1,000 registrations were received for 38 live Zoom sessions featuring 30 unique programs presented by 18 organizations. Families participated in STEM-at-home activities, conversations and demonstrations with scientists, community science projects, and virtual tours of laboratories and other facilities. The virtual festival maintained Discovery Day’s free, noncommercial, and community-centered mission while sustaining connections among North Bay families, educators, scientists, and exhibitors during the pandemic. Selected recordings were later made available for continued learning.
2022: 10th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
May 15, 2022 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
Discovery Day returned to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in 2022 after two years without an in-person festival. Originally scheduled for March, the event was postponed to May 15 and welcomed an estimated 6,000 attendees. Fifty-three organizations offered approximately 60 hands-on activities in Grace Pavilion and Shade Park, supported by 16 sponsors, 29 high school and college student exhibitor assistants, and an 11-member volunteer planning team. Activities included medical simulations, artificial intelligence, robotics, drones, aviation, radio communications, earthquake science, environmental science, wildlife, and a free COVID-19 vaccination clinic. Memorable experiences included examining pig hearts, performing mock surgery and angioplasty, meeting live bats, operating robots, exploring virtual reality, and viewing NASA and aviation artifacts.
May 1, 2022
2023: 11th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
March 11, 2023 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
Despite rainy weather, the 2023 Discovery Day attracted an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 attendees. Sixty-seven organizations presented approximately 100 hands-on STEM activities, supported by 14 sponsors, 12 community and in-kind partners, and 108 volunteer sign-ups. Volunteers included 63 high school students, six college students, and 39 adults. Activities ranged from biotechnology, immune science, medical devices, robotics, chemistry, radio, aviation, and earthquake science to live bats, native plants, watersheds, ocean conservation, and climate change. The festival expanded bilingual access through English and Spanish inquiry questions, bilingual attendee surveys, and Spanish-language media partnerships. A rain contingency plan moved vulnerable outdoor activities indoors and allowed the festival to continue successfully throughout the day.
2024: 12th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
March 9, 2024 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
The 2024 Discovery Day brought together 52 sponsors, 75 exhibitors, 150 student and adult volunteers, and 120 hands-on activities. Public attendance estimate was approximately 10,000. Exhibits filled several fairgrounds buildings and outdoor areas with experiences in medicine, engineering, aviation, radio, robotics, chemistry, wildlife, water, agriculture, environmental science, and emerging technologies. Attendees rated their overall experience an average of 9.33 out of 10; 87% reported that the festival strongly sparked STEM wonder and curiosity, 86% reported increased interest in STEM, and 88% spoke with a professional scientist or engineer. A ripple-effects mapping project also documented broader impacts, including new partnerships, greater awareness of local STEM resources, intergenerational family learning, expanded public outreach, and stronger connections throughout the North Bay STEM learning ecosystem.
2025: 13th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
March 8, 2025 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
The 2025 festival reached an estimated 11,000 attendees and set a new record for exhibitor participation. Seventy-two sponsors, approximately 105 participating organizations operating 107 exhibits, and 150 volunteers supported more than 150 hands-on STEM activities. The volunteer corps included approximately 120 high school and college student exhibitor assistants. Saralee and Richard’s Barn and the Showcase were added as exhibit areas, expanding the festival’s physical footprint, and a new Teacher Appreciation Center recognized classroom educators. Families explored artificial intelligence, medical devices, robotics, sports engineering, sharks, live animals, Mars rovers, climate science, aviation, animation, chemistry, water, and conservation. Attendees stayed an average of 2.93 hours and rated the festival an average of 9.54 out of 10. Eighty-nine percent reported strong wonder and curiosity, 91% reported increased STEM interest, and 98% rated the festival as a good experience.
2026: 14th Annual North Bay Science Discovery Day
March 7, 2026 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds
The 14th annual Discovery Day welcomed more than 11,000 attendees. The festival brought together 60 sponsors, 104 participating organizations operating 106 exhibits, and 174 volunteers. Activities covered coding, artificial intelligence, medicine, sports engineering, renewable energy, robotics, wildlife, astronomy, aviation, water, fire science, climate science, animal adaptations, and other STEM fields. Grace Pavilion returned as a major exhibit venue, allowing several smaller exhibit areas used in 2025 to be consolidated into a larger and more cohesive festival layout. New features included a central robotics area, expanded bilingual activities, and additional outdoor exploration experiences.
The festival also completed its most extensive evaluation to date, collecting 403 attendee surveys representing 963 people, 64 volunteer surveys, and 51 exhibitor surveys. Attendees rated the event an average of 9.38 out of 10; 90% reported that it strongly sparked wonder and curiosity, STEM interest increased from 67% before the event to 91% afterward, and 94% intended to seek additional STEM activities. A new mystery-shopper pilot produced 88 exhibit-quality evaluations covering 61 exhibitors. Results highlighted welcoming and inclusive environments, friendly exhibit staff, and strong curiosity-building experiences, while informing continued improvements in inquiry-based engagement and opportunities for children to predict, test, explain, and make decisions.
