2nd Annual Arkansas Dark-Sky Festival

9/14/2023 - 9/16/2023

Marshall, Arkansas

Arkansas Natural Sky Association

The 2nd Annual Arkansas Dark-Sky Festival is September 14 – 16, at Bear Creek Creek Log Cabins outside Marshall! This year the event will be three nights long, with two days for tabling, presentations, and other activities. We are hoping to identify, perhaps even organize, some daytime side activities.

Local attractions: Attractions | Searcy County Chamber of Commerce (searcycountyarkansas.org)

Local Lodging: Lodging | Searcy County Chamber of Commerce (searcycountyarkansas.org)

Local Food: Dining | Searcy County Chamber of Commerce (searcycountyarkansas.org)

The goal of the festival is to highlight the challenges facing the nocturnal environment, promote awareness of the economic and recreational value of the state’s disappearing natural night sky resource, and reconnect people with the reality of our place in the universe lost for most to light pollution. Participatingorganizations can leverage the Festival to advance their own mission. Only two things are required to participate:

1. Appoint a liaison to serve as the contact between the event andyour organization.

2. Formulate a specific plan to disseminate the event and yourorganization’s participation in it to your membership and share that plan withthe Festival – newsletter, email, social media, announcement at meetings,whatever you think would be effective and practical. The festival willprovide a flyer in a word format with graphics that you can use, whole or inpart, for the purpose.

The special guest speaker for the 2nd Annual Dark Sky Festival on Saturday, 16 September will be Dr. Amber Straughn of Bee Branch, an Astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD! The Dark Sky Festival is being held just outside Marshall at Bear Creek Log Cabins! Amber grew up in Bee Branch, AR and earned her B.S. in Physics from the University of Arkansas in 2002, and went on to obtain a Ph.D. in Physics at Arizona State University in 2008. Amber is a member of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope science team, and is interested in answering questions about our universe that relate to how galaxies change over time. Amber is an accomplished public speaker and has appeared on CBS 60 Minutes, PBS NOVA, The Discovery Channel, The Science Channel, NatGeo, and in a segment on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. She was recently profiled in AY magazine. Amber credits growing up under the dark skies of rural Arkansas to her early interest in astronomy. When she isn't thinking about space, Amber enjoys hiking, yoga, live music, flying her Cessna Skylane with her husband Matt, and playing with her two Great Danes. Bio here:

https://jwst.nasa.gov/.../meetTheTeam/people/straughn.html For more information, please contact The Arkansas Natural Sky Association

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2nd Annual Arkansas Dark-Sky Festival 9/14/2023 - 9/16/2023 Marshall, Arkansas Arkansas Natural Sky Association

2nd Annual Arkansas Dark-Sky Festival

9/14/2023 - 9/16/2023

Marshall, Arkansas

Arkansas Natural Sky Association