Go to Arts Below Sunrise in Hewlett and Woodmere, today

Arts Below Sunrise, a community music and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) street festival, organized by the Hewlett-Woodmere- Public Schools Endowment Fund, will  now take place on Sunday, May 7 from 10 a.m. to  5 p.m.

This year’s event will mark 10 years of being known as “the largest outdoor festival in the Five Towns.”

The festival, which stretches along Broadway between the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library in Hewlett to Irving Place in Woodmere, will have hands-on educational activities, games, live music and science activities for children and adults.

“It is aimed for young elementary and middle school kids,” Hewlett High School senior Anneliese Baum said. “We have a lot of interactive exhibits that invite people to come.”

Baum, who has volunteered at the event for the last six years, runs a science exhibit that allows those who come to get hands-on with the items she brings.

“We have this smoke cannon where if someone comes by, we will blow some smoke out of the cannon,” she said. “And a bunch more of exhibits are like that.”

Baum explained that many of the items are things that can be made from the comfort of your home. Items you may have not thought had another purpose than their actual use.

“They are kind of made out of random stuff,” she said. “That you have at your house.”

The smoke cannon was made from a garbage can, a shower curtain and a bungee cord.

Baum, who found an interest in STEAM when she was a student at Hewlett Elementary School, found her way joining the award-winning Robotics Club when she went to high school, reuniting with her Discovery teacher, Janine Torresson, the robotics coach.

The three teams, Bionica, Innovo and RoboBoogie, will be at the festival, showcasing each of their robots and providing information to those interested in joining.

“Part of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and the competition they enter is to do community outreach,” Torresson said. “So that their communities are aware that their robotics teams exist, what they do and what their robots look like. Talk to the community on how they built them and engage with the community.”

Torresson said RoboBoogie recruited students last year at Arts Below Sunrise that were in the eighth grade to join the club when they moved up to high school.

Along with the festival’s emphasis on STEAM, David Friedman, Hewlett-Woodmere Business Association president, said the event brings community members together for one jam-packed day.

“We have many exhibits, vendors, musicians and community organizations,” he said. “This really is the biggest event to highlight and showcase our school district, which students from academics, music and art and our Robotics teams.”

Friedman said more carnival-style attractions would be at the festival, such as a bounce house and slide.

The Hewlett-Woodmere Business Association, the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library and others help volunteer. There are 150 exhibit spots booked.

“We are all very excited to enter into the 10th year of this very successful community event,” Friedman said. “It is a lot of work but it is always worth it.”