When most of us look forward to a night out at a local brewery or taproom, we probably aren’t thinking about stargazing. Well, the good folks in Chicago are, thanks in part to the efforts of the Adler Planetarium and their ‘Scopes in the City events. Michelle Nichols, Adler’s Director of Public Observing joined me recently to tell me how beer and the stars come together to make for unforgettable evenings of community fellowship and fun.

‘Scopes in the City

In 2014, Adler Planetarium located in downtown Chicago tested some ideas to “expand the walls of the museum outward” to reach more of the Chicagoland area. One of their most successful pilot events turned out to be ‘Scopes in the City. The idea of bringing telescopes to a variety of neighborhoods and venues had been successful in other areas of the country, so why not Chicago? To date, these events have been a big success, with 35-40 free events per year including many taking place at Chicagoland taprooms and breweries.

Michelle Nichols tells us all about it…

Sommbeer: How do ‘Scopes in the City events work?

Michelle: For a typical event we go for maybe an hour to two hours, usually an hour and a half. We’ll set up out telescopes, and anyone wandering by can take a look. We usually have one or two telescopes setup. We usually have to make a weather call maybe the day before to figure out if it will be cloudy, raining, snowing or whatever. We have to keep an eye on the weather unless we are working with a place that has indoor space. If that’s the case, then we may bring something with us that we can do something indoors instead so we don’t have to cancel the whole thing. But anyway, we set our telescopes up, we point them at whatever it is we are going to look at and literally anyone wandering by can take a look. Here’s the really interesting part. This happens basically everywhere we go…a little community builds up around that telescope for that hour and a half. People will stay around our telescope 20 minutes, half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour. We’ve had people spend a huge amount of time with us. It’s really cool.

Sommbeer: How many people typically attend?

Michelle: It depends on the location. It could be 4, it could be 20, it could be 60, it could be over 100. For a place like Millennium Park we’ve had 2, 3, 400 people come. We’re not necessarily looking for a certain number of audience, we are looking for where are we going where people haven’t interacted with us before.

Sommbeer: How did ‘Scopes in the City events make their way to taprooms and breweries?

Michelle: That actually came from a conversation I had with my husband as we were sitting in the Solemn Oath (brewery) in Naperville, IL. They have a taproom 10 minutes from my house. My husband looks around and says “this would be a great place to bring a telescope”. I thought that was a pretty good idea. I didn’t really think much more about it too much. Then we were at the rooftop bar at the Two Brothers brewery in downtown Naperville and it’s a third floor rooftop with an awesome view of the sky. It was getting dark and I’m looking up (and spotting) there’s Saturn right there, there’s Jupiter…this would be a great place to bring a telescope! He’s (her husband) is like, “you should really do that!” I contacted 12 places I thought would be good and scouted them using areal views and street views to determine if they would work (view of the southern sky, minimal light pollution, ect.). My criteria this time around was pick places I’ve been to and I like the beer. Or pick places other staff members have been to and they liked the beer. I figure then we know the place we can say, “yes we know the place and we love your beer”. Would you like us to bring a telescope, its totally free, no catch. We are calling it ‘Scopes in the City, the Taproom Tour”. It’s going really well so far. We went to 5 Rabbits Cerveceria in Bedford Park last week and it was one of the largest audiences we’ve had for ‘Scopes in the City. It was at least 100 people…families and just enthusiastic people. One of the most science attentive audiences we’ve ever had. One of my colleagues said, “beer and nerds, we go together!”

Sommbeer: How have they been received there (taprooms and breweries)?

Michelle: Every single one of the places wants us to come back. We were at Penrose in Geneva, and they said, “can we can come back in the winter?” It gets dark earlier and they want to put a fire pit outside, and cook smores and serve beer! Some locations want us to come back once a month! I love the enthusiasm! The response from the taprooms has been so amazing.

Sommbeer: What’s been the feedback from the taprooms and breweries?

Michelle: They’ve just said “thank you, thank you, thank you”. “This was fantastic, we didn’t know what to expect but you’re welcome back anytime”. Some of the places want us to come on the days they know they won’t be as busy (to have enough room and parking for the events). We found they came for dinner, they were at the bar, but it got them (taprooms and breweries) foot traffic and got them some sales, and got us (Adler) some notice as well….it’s a win/win for both of us. The taprooms and breweries are so generous. I’m just floored at how willing they are to share. I know they do that among themselves, I wasn’t expecting it as much between us and them. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Sommbeer: Who typically attends the events?

Michelle: It’s everyone from little kids and all the way up to seniors. I was expected getting maybe the millennial crowd, but no, it’s been people my age, older, (and) younger.

Sommbeer: What’s been participant’s reactions?

Michelle: Very few people have ever looked through a telescope. Some people know you are coming and are all about seeing what you have to show them. Others need a little enticing, like “hey come over and take a look at the stars and planets”. People bring lawn chairs and just hangout…it’s so cool. Conversations range from telescopes to “what’s your job like?”, its really cool!

Sommbeer: What do most people ask about?

Michelle: There are two most often asked questions. If we are looking at the sun, the first response is “I thought you couldn’t look at the sun?”. So we have to explain how you can safely do that with a telescope. Number 2, how much does this telescope cost? Number 3, “is that real, you put a picture up in there didn’t you?” It surprises people that it (planets, ect) looks like what they see online, just a lot smaller. That’s pretty amazing for people.

Sommbeer: What do people typically view at these events?

Michelle: I try to schedule them when there’s something interesting to be seen. The moon, the planets…when there’s at least one bright thing to point the telescope at. (Mostly planets because stars are smaller, bright lights that just become brighter with a telescope). People don’t realize they can see these with their eyes. They’ve never been shown where they are, so that’s pretty amazing for them.

Sommbeer: If a brewery or taproom wants to participate, what do they need to know and do?

Michelle: We are limited to places in the Chicagoland area. People can email me at scopesinthecity@adlerplanetarium.org. We are booked through all of 2018 and I’m already scheduling for 2019, so it’s never too early to reach out.

Sommbeer: Can you share some success stories?

Michelle: For Adler, we’ve handed out coupons for the planetarium and we’ve seen good numbers of those come back (redeemed). For the taprooms, many have seen more and positive feedback (including their social media) asking about “when is Adler coming back?” When’s the next “family night with telescopes?”.

Sommbeer: What’s surprised you the most at these events?

Michelle: I mentioned it before, that community that springs up around the telescope. It doesn’t matter where we are, when it is, who we are talking to, this spontaneous thing just takes hold and people just hangout. They will chat with us, and each other even if they don’t know each other…it just happens. It’s really gratifying.

Sommbeer: Since you are clearly a fan of craft beer, what would you suggest as the best beer pairing for viewing a night sky?

Michelle: If it’s really warm out, I would go for a Wit or maybe a Lager. You don’t want to over-tax yourself especially if it’s during a hot day. If its dark out and maybe around 70 degrees, then go for your Porter. If it’s cold out, you can never go wrong with a Stout. I had almost a religious experience at Two Brothers with their Northwind Stout and Turtle Cheesecake! The pair between the more bitter beer and the sweet cheesecake…I almost fell over.

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