OPINION — As the Arizona SciTech Festival marks its 15th year, it’s worth reflecting on how a simple question helped spark a statewide movement: Would anyone show up?
When the first festival launched in 2012, we truly didn’t know. Our early events included Geeks Night Out in Tempe, Science in Tucson and giant anatomically correct insects at Phoenix’s First Friday. They were creative, bold and a little risky. But Arizona responded in extraordinary fashion. More than 200 events across the state drew over 220,000 people in that first year alone.
That response revealed something powerful: Arizona was hungry for hands-on discovery, real-world learning and meaningful connections to science and technology.
