On Friday, December 6, the Saint Louis Science Center’s First Friday program held its last event of 2024, welcoming the St. Louis community to explore the real-life STEM connections in the Lord of the Rings franchise. More than 1,000 guests attended the free evening event, which featured activities throughout the Science Center, special presentations at Energy Stage, and more. Throughout the Science Center’s Oakland Building and McDonnell Planetarium, First Friday participants were stationed and ready to connect with guests. ROBOMO and Girl Scout Robotics held an activity focused on filmmaking in the T. Rex Room. There, guests could stop in for some robotic cinematic inspiration to apply to their own movies.
Organizations like St. Louis Space Frontier, The Moon Society, and other astronomical groups were on hand to engage First Friday attendees, letting them discover more about space exploration, and the University of Missouri–St. Louis Science and Technology Learning Center helped guests experience the science of magic inside Boeing Hall South.
Inside the Planetarium, adults could check out a Sky Lecture, which offered a tour of the upcoming month’s sky so attendees could preview what celestial sights January would bring. At the Life Science Lab, Science Center team members invited guests to explore fungi and mushrooms, and a building-wide game encouraged people to journey across the Science Center. Local St. Louis theater troupe Magic Smoking Monkey offered two live performances of The Return of the One-Hour Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Inside Boeing Hall North, guests gathered to watch the hourlong shows to see The Lord of the Rings in a new way—faster, funnier, and all fit into 60 minutes.
Energy Stage hosted STEM presentations during the evening. Dr. Cait Stevenson, a public historian and author, presented on the real history of the Middle Ages. Later, leathersmith Cary Miller invited the audience to learn the art of crafting armor using leather. The Energy Stage presentations included ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation for audience members through the Willow Tree Project. In 2024, this collaboration made it possible to provide ASL interpretation for every major presentation at the stage.
In addition to the event being the final First Friday of 2024, the night also served as a bittersweet capstone for the First Friday program in its current iteration. This year alone, First Fridays have welcomed more than 12,000 guests to explore the connections between science-fiction, pop culture, and STEM through the lens of topics like Star Wars, Nintendo, Dr. Who, and more. In 2025, the Science Center team is excited to evolve the program to bring more adult-friendly STEM offerings to the St. Louis community under a new name. Fans of First Fridays are encouraged to stay tuned to the Science Center’s social media channels to learn more as details are announced, as well as check out other fun and family-friendly events like Community STEM Showcase and SciFest and Science Center offerings like Inside the Vault, Makerspace, GROW, and many others.
