Win tickets to Yuri’s Night Out!

Yuri’s Night Space Party returns for it’s second year at  Great Lakes Science Center Saturday, April 13 from 8pm to 1am and you could be the lucky winner of four tickets.

What can you expect at the party?

• Live music by The Floorwalkers (8 – 11 pm)
• DJ OZMTZ spinning tunes (11 pm – 1 am)
• Dancing all night long
• Sam Adams beer, Barefoot wine, Angry Orchard Cider and light hors d’oeuvres (included with your ticket)
• Cash bar for cocktails and special treats
• Costume contest – wear your best space-themed attire!
• Access to the newly redesigned NASA Glenn Visitor Center + science center exhibits

Yuri’s Night parties and events are held around the world every April in commemoration of April 12, 1961, the day of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight, and April 12, 1981, the inaugural launch of NASA’s Space Shuttle. Learn more at http://www.yurisnight.net.

To purchase tickets and to learn more about Yuri’s Night Space Party at the Great Lakes Science Center click here. For your chance to WIN FOUR TICKETS simply leave a comment below describing what your best space-themed attire will look like for Yuri’s costume contest. For an additional entry tweet this: I want to win the @positivelycleve Yuri’s Night Space Party ticket giveaway! http://ow.ly/jK2HM #HappyinCLE 

Winner will be chosen at random and announced back here on this post on Tuesday at noon. Good luck!

(You must be 21 years of age or older to enter. Designated driver tickets are available for $25 each. Please call 216.621.2400 for details.)

Hey everyone! The contest has ended and the winner is… TRISH! Thanks to everyone who entered. 

– Positively Cleveland

Yuri’s Night Space Party Ticket Giveaway

Attend Cleveland’s first-ever Yuri’s Night Space Party at the Great Lakes Science Center Saturday, April 7 from 8pm to 1am!  Another reason to celebrate in CLE!

Enjoy a night of dancing, live music by Disco Inferno, beer and wine, hors d’oeuvres, a space themed costume contest, midnight showing of the OMNIMAX movie, Hubble, free parking, Big Science Show demonstrations, trivia contest with a NASA astronaut and so much more!

Yuri’s Night parties and events are held around the world every April in commemoration of April 12, 1961, the day of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight, and April 12, 1981, the inaugural launch of NASA’s Space Shuttle.

To purchase tickets and to learn more about Yuri’s Night Space Party at the Great Lakes Science Center click here. For your chance to WIN FOUR TICKETS simply leave a comment below describing what your best space-themed attire will look like for Yuri’s costume contest. Winner will be chosen at random and announced back here on this post on Thursday afternoon. Good luck!

We loved all your entries and are sad we can only choose one winner. The randomly chosen winner is comment #21. Congrats to Jessa! Email me at callie@positivelycleveland.com for details. Thanks for playing everyone! Looking forward to the next giveaway. 

– Corinne Allie

What Are You Afraid Of?

Why do our hearts race, our knees shake and our bodies sweat when we are scared? Find out in Great Lakes Science Center’s  new exhibition, Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear, open now through April 29.

More than 20 engaging activities in Goose Bumps! allow visitors to experience fear in a safe and enjoyable environment, rate their response, understand the science behind the emotion and reflect upon its personal meaning.

For more information, visit http://www.greatscience.com.

What are you afraid of? Spiders? Deep water? Clowns? All of the above? Tell us in the comments.

- Freddie Coffey, Web Manager

“Facing Mars” at the Great Lakes Science Center

When children imagine growing up, they may dream of becoming a dancer, a singer, a policeman or an astronaut – or maybe all four if they’re really ambitious. The Great Lakes Science Center is opening an exhibit that will give children and adults alike a chance to see what being an astronaut is really like.

(c)www.greatscience.com

The new Facing Mars exhibit, which runs Jan. 29 – Sept. 5, is a fun and educational journey to the exotic world of Mars. With 28 stimulating exhibits, visitors can become an astronaut for a day and experience what it’s like to walk on Mars at reduced gravity and discover the effects of motion sickness in the spinning chair. Not only can visitors explore the physical challenges of space travel, but also the psychological and scientific challenges.

(c)www.greatscience.com

A unique aspect of the exhibit is that it asks questions with no known answers, challenging visitors to think like astronauts and solve problems. In one visit, a guest will become a space surgeon, a planetary geologist and a spacecraft technician – with a spotlight on the real-life obstacles of sending humans to Mars.

The exhibition is a perfect fit with the NASA Glenn Visitor Center featuring 20 astronautic artifacts including shuttle and rocket models, a moon rock, a lunar lander model and more.  And, with hundreds of more hand-on exhibits, daily demonstrations and themed traveling exhibits, the Great Lakes Science Center is wonderful place for kids and parents to explore.

You should know:

• The museum is located at 601 Erieside Avenue, right next to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in downtown Cleveland
• The science center is open daily 10 am – 5pm
• Admission is $14.95 for adult non-members and $12.95 for children, which includes admission to all the other exhibits at the Great Lakes Science Center and NASA Glenn Visitor Center, or an OMNIMAX film. Admission is free on Tuesdays for all youth 18 and under when accompanied by an adult.
• While there, make sure to check out the Steamship William G. Mather Museum to tour a real 614-foot historic Great Lakes freighter set to reopen for the season in May.
• Discounted parking is available for guests in the attached 500-car garage
• For more information, visit www.glsc.org or call 216.694.2000.

– Submitted by E.H.

The Young and The Restless

Snoopy at Cedar Point Amusement Park (west of Cleveland in Sandusky, Ohio).

Kids are always looking for their next kingdom and Northeast Ohio is a treasure map of interesting activities that will excite and entertain.

Take for instance the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and its newest program this spring — The Scoop on Poop! Fish do it, frogs do it, pythons, eagles and elephants do it, yet poop is one of those subjects we find difficult to talk about with a straight face. “Kids however are positively fascinated by it,” says Sue Allen, manager of marketing and public relations at the Metroparks Zoo. “Poop is interesting stuff — really.” 

Zoo visitors can improve their No. 2 IQ in Stool School by listening in on an animal’s digestive system, learn the language of poop in countries around the world, compete in dung beetle races, track wild animals by clues left in scat and much more. This is, of course, on top of everything else awesomely interesting about the Metroparks’ zoo including its animal shows, dinosaur exhibit and more than 3,000 creatures roaming 168 rolling, wooded acres.

Most things about planet earth are pretty interesting, but everything about space is totally engrossing. At the Great Lakes Science Center (one of the nation’s leading science and technology hubs and home to the awe-inspiring OMNIMAX Theater), the Return to the Moon exhibit will be sweeping young minds off their feet and placing them squarely on the lunar map.

Hubble at Great Lakes Science Center

Great Lakes Science Center (Cleveland, Ohio)

As if the Great Lakes Science Center‘s already spectacular offerings weren’t enough, the six-story Omnimax dome theater is among the first in the nation showing the new IMAX movie Hubble – and it is nothing short of an absolutely jaw-dropping wonder.

I took my 12-year-old daughter and we both could easily run out of superlatives trying to convey just how amazing this movie is. In just 45 minutes, you’ll not only relive the story of the Hubble Space Telescope’s deployment and the NASA missions over the years that kept this wondrous eye on the cosmos working, but through the telescope’s galaxy-spanning images, you’ll also take a stunning journey across space and into the heart of the Orion Nebula.

And, because the movie unfolds on the enormous curved screen, you can look around and feel like you’re there . . . impossibly suspended in a vast “star nursery” where suns and planets are born, drifting in zero-gravity with the crew in the cabin of Atlantis or standing in an open space shuttle cargo bay, the Earth shining overhead.

You’ll also get a great sense of the astronauts themselves, including Cleveland-area native Michael Good, who’s featured prominently as a member of the crew sent up in 2009 to carry out the final – and one of the most challening – missions to Hubble.

Hubble‘s rated G and I can’t imagine anyone who’s ever run around with a toy rocket, imagined flying to the stars or even just looked up at the sky for a few quiet moments could help but fall in love with it. Even if you’re not a space nerd like I am, the engrossing story and vivid photography will draw you in and take you on an unforgettable journey.

There’s never been an eye on the universe quite like Hubble, so it’s only fitting that there’s never been a movie quite like this, either.

Hubble runs three to four times daily – check the GLAC site for details here. And, although you can buy a ticket just to catch an Omnimax show, there are bargains to be had in purchasing combined tickets which include admission to the  Center or the neighboring Steamship William G. Mather Museum. –Submitted by John Booth (read more from Cleveland Plus writer and guest blogger, John, here on his site.)

The New Doubletree Hotel Cleveland Downtown/Lakeside

The Doubletree Hotel in downtown Cleveland recently underwent a full renovation (and flag change to become a Doubletree–it was a Holiday Inn) and I must admit I like their style. A new layout in the lobby opens things up and makes room for Starbucks. Dark wood floors and comfortable furniture fill the lobby offering a nice setting for travelers to check email, read or relax. Other hotel amenities include an indoor pool, free wi-fi throughout, an attached sports bar/restaurant, covered parking, workout facility, meeting rooms and a large ballroom.

The Doubletree is in walking distance to many downtown attractions like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, PlayhouseSquare, Browns Stadium  and the Great Lakes Science Center, as well as examples of Cleveland’s flourishing culinary scene in the Warehouse District and along East Fourth Street. The Doubletree also offers shuttle service within the downtown area. (Oh, and warm, delicious chocolate chip cookies for its arriving guests!)

So, whether you’re on a family vacation or traveling for business, the Doubletree will accommodate your needs. And all of this comes with an incredible view of Lake Erie.

Take a photo tour of the Doubletree Hotel Cleveland Downtown/Lakeside here. For more information visit www.clevelanddowntownlakeside.doubletree.com or call 216.928.3202.  –Submitted by CA

It’s the “Year of Darwin”

2009 is the “Year of Darwin.” This year, people all over the world celebrate two major dates in history:  the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publishing of his extremely influential book, The Origin of Species. What better way to honor the life of the man who fashioned a theory that forever changed the perception of the origin and nature of our species than with an exhibit dedicated entirely to his life and his work?

Darwin, on display at the Great Lakes Science Center through September 18 does exactly this. An in-depth exhibition featuring specimens, artifacts, manuscripts and memorabilia related to Darwin allows visitors the opportunity to step inside the life and mind of Charles Darwin. Both engaging and enlightening, Darwin is divided into nine major sections to help spectators realize the sheer curiosity and intelligence possessed by Darwin, characteristics which allowed him to make observations that would eventually lead to his theory of evolution.

Summer (Solstice) in the City

Wow. The summer solstice is really heating things up here in Cleveland. There are almost too many things to do this weekend. It’s Father’s Day weekend and I already have tickets to the Lake Erie Crushers on Friday, tickets to laugh along with Joel McHale from The Soup at Lakewood Civic Auditorium and reservations to see actor James Franco at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I just can’t decide where else I’ll be. Here’s a rundown of some of the big happenings:

Big Cool Cats Steve Presser (owner of Big Fun and Big Fun Cleveland vintage and collectible toy stores), Thomas Mulready (CoolCleveland.com) and singer/songwriter Denis Devito (Cats On Holiday) dreamt up this new all-day music festival—featuring everything from reggae to rock, roots, blues, Cajun, country, alternative pop, ragtime, swing, Afro-electronique, New Orleans Mardi Gras music, traditional Americana and a combination of hip-hop blended with Brazilian bossa nova at Cain Park’s Evans Amphitheater. Go for the sunshine, the music and to support some cats who generally love our city and just want to put together a fun day. Saturday, June 20, noon – 11pm. General admission $40; persons presenting a military ID, senior citizen or student ID or a Friends of Cain Park membership card are eligible to receive a discount.

Summer Solstice Celebration  Welcome the longest day of the year with an all-night party celebrating the new east wing (very cool, by the way) at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tapas stations, bars and a few surprises. Performers include Hot Club of Detroit, Slavic Soul Party, Dan Deacon and others. Stay the whole night or just close it out ($15 only). Saturday, June 20, 5pm-2am. Reservations are requested for the 5pm and 7pm admissions but are not necessary for 10pm.

Porchfest Porches in Cleveland’s Larchmere neighborhood are being transformed into stages with free musical performances, in the first Larchmere Porchfest. Organized in part by my friend (a musician himself and marketing guy at Telarc records), Jason Linder, the idea came from an annual “porch music” festival in Ithaca, NY. There will be 20 acts, representing a variety of musical styles, performing just off of Shaker Square. Performers include Brent Kirby (from the Jack Fords), Roger Hoover, Clint Holley, Church of the Lazy Bastards, Jesse Barnez, Elec Simon, Russian Duo and Miss Melvis, garage rock. Restaurants like Boulevard Blue, Vine & Bean Cafe, Academy Tavern and Felice are opening early that day for festival-goers to dine or drink. Porchfest, Saturday, June 20, 2-6pm, concludes with a full band, plugged-in concert at Shaker Square from 6-9pm, courtesy of The Coral Company. Free.

Hanging out at Great Lakes Science Center (10.15.08)

Great Lakes Science Center (credit: Jeff Greenberg)

After living in Cleveland for 23 years, I have learned the city has a great variety of fun things to do for all types of people. The other day after our Accounting class at Cleveland State, my study buddy Jason and I decided to go out to find something to occupy our three hour downtime between classes. The first place that came to mind was the Great Lakes Science Center.