Kinetic fest on its way

Gizmo-cda is gearing up for Kinetic Fest.

Gizmo will open its doors Saturday for teams of builders to come create the next great kinetic vehicle. Kinetic Fest Build Days will be held each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until the event, which is scheduled for July 10 at McEuen Park in Coeur d'Alene.

The idea of Kinetic Fest is to build human-powered vehicles that will be paraded during the festival. Other events will take place during Kinetic Fest where kids, or kids-at-heart, can build their own mutant toys or take part in a public art piece that includes a huge wall of gears. The Snake Pit Roller Derby Dames will be present at the festival as "Kinetic Cops" to determine whether a vehicle is mediocre or not.

Kinetic vehicles are functional works of engineering art and designs can vary from simple to high-tech, multi-pilot contraptions.

During Kinetic Fest Build Days each Saturday, Gizmo will have mentors, tools and a truckload of bike parts available for building dream vehicles.

Gizmo is also getting ready to launch "Gizmo2Xtremes," a year-long project where students and mentors will conspire to build robots and explore near space and the depths of Lake Pend Oreille. Project missions will work toward the goal of releasing near space balloon launches with recovery vehicles and unmanned vehicles that will dive 1,000 feet into the world's fifth-deepest lake.

Over the course of a year, Giz the Robot will be built as a mission mascot to involve the local community as part of the operation, and two events this week will launch Giz's story.

A dinner is set for 6 p.m. tonight at Gizmo, located at 806 N. Fourth St. in Coeur d'Alene to launch the build of Giz, prototyping the robot and the dive vehicle.

The community is also invited to help write the story of Giz the Robot at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library. The event will include writing stories, building model robots and drawing comic strips about Giz and his family and friends, their adventures and what special powers Giz has. Refreshments will be available and prizes will be awarded for the best stories and robots.

Tonight's dinner and Sunday's event at the library are free and open to the public. Build Days are $36 per family — one $36 charge includes all nine Saturdays leading up to the event.

For information call: 651-6200 or visit www.gizmo-cda.org.