{"id":132553,"date":"2024-07-08T22:12:14","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T02:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=132553"},"modified":"2024-07-08T22:12:14","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T02:12:14","slug":"national-scenic-visitors-centers-earthwalk-explorer-experience-coming-to-the-banana-factory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=132553","title":{"rendered":"National Scenic Visitors Center\u2019s \u201cEarthwalk Explorer\u201d Experience Coming to the Banana Factory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley, PA \u2013 July 8, 2024 \u2013\u00a0ArtsQuest<\/a>, on behalf of the National Scenic Visitors Center, announces an upcoming unique experience \u201cEarthwalk Explorer\u201d coming to the\u00a0Banana Factory<\/a>\u00a0from July 20 – 27, 2024.\u00a0Earthwalk Explorer<\/a>\u00a0is a walkable 8\u2019 x 16\u2019 map of the eastern United States. It is a three-dimensional representation of the U.S. from North Carolina to New Hampshire. This free and family friendly exhibit will take place in the Crayola Gallery. Visit\u00a0Bananafactory.org<\/a>\u00a0for hours of operation.<\/p>\n

Visitors will experience a \u201cfeet to earth\u201d exploration that takes them across the landscape. As you walk along, you will see everything from state borders to lakes and rivers, mountain ranges to parks and trails. Explorer also features two colorful Geoshows on the Native American presence in Pennsylvania. One focuses on the network of native trails that formed the foundation of the modern transportation network. The other animates the rich artifactual legacy of Lenape, focusing on petroglyphs found throughout Pennsylvania.\u00a0Finally, a third Geoshow highlights bird migration along the Atlantic Flyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Earthwalker Explorer is the world\u2019s first walkable 3D map. Invented by the National Scenic Visitors Center and fabricated by NCC\u2019s Fab Lab, it is a fun and educational experience for all ages,\u201d says Co-Founder Mary Ellen Snyder. \u201cThe Explorer tells stories of geography, history, nature and culture. Over 20,000 visitors have explored the map \u2013 in their socks, like benevolent giants. Visitors learn about the Lenape people, the original caretakers of our region, bird migration along the Atlantic flyway and ancient petroglyphs found in our rivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Explorer has received praise from many. \u201cI loved being able to show my kids places they could recognize in relation to surrounding areas,\u201d commented one impressed visitor. Other praise included comments like \u201camazing visuals,\u201d \u201ca totally different view of geography,\u201d and \u201cincredibly interesting history lesson.\u201d The Explorer has had successful shows at the PA State Capitol, Johnstown Discovery Center, Northampton Community College, Lancaster Science Factory and the Da Vinci Science Center. We are excited to add the\u00a0Banana Factory<\/a>\u00a0to that list.<\/p>\n

About ArtsQuest<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

ArtsQuest\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0mission is to provide access to exceptional artistic, cultural and educational experiences using arts and culture as key elements of economic development for our urban communities. ArtsQuest\u2122 supports this mission via the presentation of performing and visual arts, film, arts education classes and outreach, youth programming and cultural events.<\/p>\n

Through festivals such as its flagship event,\u00a0Musikfest<\/a>; the\u00a0Banana Factory Arts Center<\/a>; and the ArtsQuest Center at\u00a0SteelStacks<\/a>\u00a0arts and cultural campus, ArtsQuest\u2019s programming reaches more than 1.9 million people annually. The organization\u2019s programs and events, over 50% of which are free to attend, have a combined economic impact of more than $136 million annually in the region.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nBryn Keeney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley, PA \u2013 July 8, 2024 \u2013\u00a0ArtsQuest, on behalf of the National Scenic Visitors Center, announces an upcoming unique experience \u201cEarthwalk Explorer\u201d coming to the\u00a0Banana Factory\u00a0from July 20 … Continue reading National Scenic Visitors Center\u2019s \u201cEarthwalk Explorer\u201d Experience Coming to the Banana Factory<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5717,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bethlehem","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Earthwalk-Explorer.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/132554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=132553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=132553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}