Visitors can explore booths from major research institutions like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, alongside hands-on science groups like the Chabot Space & Science Center, the Lawrence Hall of Science and UC Berkeley’s Seismology Lab.
The idea for Quest Science Center started in 2018, when a group of national lab retirees saw an opportunity to create something the region didn’t yet have: a science center in Livermore.
“We were in the give-back period of our lives,” Lane said. “We decided to go ahead and form the nonprofit, which at the time was called Livermore Science and Society Center. The idea was to have science be related to everything in our lives,” she said.
The City of Livermore agreed to include land for this new science center in Stockmen’s Park, and plans for a physical space were approved in early 2020 — and then the pandemic hit. Instead of pausing, the group pivoted into making what they call a “mobile science center,” which would bring hands-on science activities directly into the community. “We became a science center without walls,” Lane said.
“We exist to ignite curiosity and expand opportunity and help young people see themselves as future innovators,” Mosby said.
Organizers said the Tri-Valley Innovation Fair is designed for everyone. “There’s really something for people of all ages and all backgrounds, just like we intend for all of our science center activities and our long-term science center,” Lane said.
“Our unofficial mantra is: science is everywhere and science is for everyone,” she said.
The Tri-Valley Innovation Fair runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. Admission is free and open to the public.