ESCONI’s mission is to promote interest in the Earth sciences, both through programs and publications aimed at ESCONI members and through events aimed at the larger community, like the ESCONI and CGMA shows. Recently, thanks to the efforts of ESCONI volunteers like Jim Bigler and Jodi Gosain [and others?], we’ve expanded ESCONI’s outreach efforts by taking Earth Science activities to STEM events organized by schools and libraries in Chicago’s western suburbs. This summer ESCONI will be reaching out to new audiences in the city of Chicago by participating in Sundays on the Boulevard in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood.

Sundays on the Boulevard is like a giant block party, set up in the broad, grassy median between the east- and west-bound sides of Douglas Boulevard, between Central Park and Lawndale Avenues. Sundays on the Boulevard is organized by the Lawndale Pop-up Spot, an outdoor museum in North Lawndale, with support from other Chicago non-profits, like Open Books and the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council. Even more Chicago organizations set up booths and activities for children and adults.

This summer ESCONI members Eric Gyllenhaal and Gail Fisher will be bringing hands-on and collections-focused Earth Science activities to ESCONI’s booth, which will be set up near the corner of Douglas Boulevard and Central Park Avenue. Many of our activities will be familiar to families who have visited the Kids Korners at the ESCONI and CGMA shows, including many ways that kids (and adults!) can add free fossils, minerals, and seashells to their personal collections. Other, messier activities will take advantage of the playful outdoor setting, including sifting fossils and minerals from a sandbox, making giant bubbles, and playing with plastic dinosaurs in home-made play dough.

Sundays on the Boulevard run from 1 to 4 p.m. on five Sundays through the summer and early fall. Each Sunday has a theme:

June 7 — Slide Into Summer 
June 28 — A Taste of Lawndale
July 26 — Sports on the Boulevard
Aug 23 — Back to School Lit Fest (on Ogden Boulevard)
Sept 27 — Animalpalooza

Activities at the ESCONI booth will be at least partly inspired by those themes. For instance, we will do beachcombing-related activities on June 7, give folks a Taste of Nature Collecting on June 28, and pretend rock collecting is a sport of July 26.

Maybe you can join us for at least one Sunday this summer. We’ll be posting photos and brief reports about the events here on the ESCONI blog.