Comments and anecdotes about the event:
George Reynolds, Rachel Perry, and Sandy Paxson set up telescopes in front of the Fort Story MWR campsite entrance and entertained an enthusiastic crowd of parents and their children. The skies were unfortunately totally cloudy, with the threat of rain (with flickering lightning in the distance), so no Moon, stars, or planets could be seen. George redeemed the time by demonstrating the "tools" of an astronomer, explaining why NOT to buy a telescope (but instead get binoculars and a planisphere or star chart), and showing the differences between refractors and reflecting telescopes and how they work. To explain why we see different constellations and stars in different seasons, George got a volunteer young boy to act as the sun, while George was the earth, revolving around the sun in one year, and looking out on different portions of the Milky Way Galaxy. His "sun" did a good job. The observing location would not have been ideal, even if the clouds had not interfered. There was a bright streetlight directly across the street, which would have hampered viewing dim objects to the east. George suggested to the program coordinator that if we do this again, a different location be chosen, with less light interference. She agreed, and suggested we try again in the Fall.