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Balloon-Powered Car Challenge: Design, Build, Race!

a Spark! Places of Innovation Program

Get your creativity in gear and get ready to race into an afternoon of high-speed fun! Have you ever dreamed of designing your own car? Now's your chance to make it a reality without an engine!

Join us for an exciting hands-on workshop where you'll design and build your very own balloon-powered car. Using simple materials and your own inventive ideas, you'll create a car that’s powered solely by the air in a balloon. Will you design a sleek speedster, a funky racer, or something entirely unique?

Once you've built your car, it’s time to put it to the test in a race to see who can create the fastest balloon-powered vehicle! Think your design has what it takes to cross the finish line first? Come on down and put your skills to the test!

This is a registration-only program for Children ages 6-11, so please make sure to register in advance!

If you have any questions, please contact the Potomac Branch at 301-375-7375 or email potomacref@ccplonline.org.

Exhibit Dates and Hours

Dates:
May 17 – June 29, 2025
Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 10 AM - 6 PM
Fridays: 10 AM - 1:30 PM
Saturdays: 10 AM – 2 PM
Sundays: Closed

Closed the following dates 5/24 (Saturday); 5/26 (Memorial Day); 6/19 (Juneteenth)

Spark! Places of Innovation, a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program, dives into innovation and invention happening in rural America. In small towns across America, people are creating new products, taking risks, meeting challenges together, and seizing upon exciting opportunities that change local life and sometimes reach far beyond.

Spark! features stories from over 30 rural communities across the nation that reveal the dynamic relationship between place and creativity. Technical, social, cultural, artistic, or a combination of all of these—every innovation is as unique as each community.

Spark! Places of Innovation is part of MoMS, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, state humanities councils across the nation, and local host organizations. To learn more, visit www.museumonmainstreet.org.

Explore the ingenuity and tenacity of rural Americans in Spark! Places of Innovation.

Learn More about the Spark! Places of Innovation Series

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