About 300 children from the Jefferson City area gathered Saturday at the Missouri River Regional Library to celebrate the end of the Summer Reading Program.
Each year, MRRL uses the program to encourage children to continue reading during the summer. If they read enough, they're rewarded with a ticket to attend the carnival.
This year, the theme was centered around space - tied to July 16's 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing.
Michael Pierce, with Mad Science of St. Louis, presented a space-themed show called "Walking on the Moon" to the children, demonstrating how rockets are launched, how far apart the planets are and what it's like to walk on the moon.
Pierce, in character as Dr. Newton Apple, Ph.D., used balloons to simulate the launch of a rocket teaching the children, who ranged in age from 2-12, about propulsion and force. He also let volunteers participate in a "rocket race" with balloons. When the balloons were released, they shot all around the room, causing attendees to laugh and try to dodge the flying rockets.
Children were called up to volunteer to stand in as planets, demonstrating the solar system and answering questions. A few lucky participants were chosen to try on an astronaut helmet, moon boots and attempt to launch a toy rocket at Pierce, who was standing in for the moon.
Pierce showed the children freeze-dried astronaut ice cream, but he explained, because of the crumbs, astronauts aren't allowed to really take the ice cream into space.
He ended the show by using carbon dioxide canisters to spray water over the crowd, drawing laughs and some shrieks from the children - and their parents.
About 675 children participated in the reading program, and at last count, 304 people had attended Saturday's carnival. Children who received a Mission Complete certificate could exchange them for five raffle tickets. They used the tickets for a chance to win any of 50 prizes at the carnival.
Most of the prizes were books, ranging in reading level from picture books and early readers to chapter books like the "Harry Potter" series. Some prizes included games, puzzles, sticker books or tote bags related to the books.
In the Truman Room, where the raffle prizes were kept, children roamed around tables, slipping raffle tickets with their names into bags in front of the prizes they wanted.
Donna Loehner, the library's children's programming associate, kept watch over the room.
"We try to appeal to all of the ages and not be too heavy on the bigger end," Loehner said.
Some of the prizes are a combination of early reader books and slightly more advanced books, to allow children to read on their own and be read to, Loehner said. Some of the options included "Geronimo Stilton," "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "I-Spy" and "Ninjago."
Some prizes were getting many tickets, while others remained empty as the time ticked on. Loehner said sometimes people will come in toward the end and choose emptier bags to put their tickets in, to increase their chances.
The summer reading program is divided by age level, and each level is required to read for a certain amount of time. Then, there are activities that go along with the theme.
Abby Coates brought her three daughters - Alex, Rachel and Norah - to the event. The three girls participated in the reading program.
Alex, 6, said she wasn't sure how many books she read this summer, but she enjoyed reading. Older sister, 8-year-old Norah, said they've done the program before, but this was the first time they had come to the carnival.
Alex put some of her raffle tickets in to win a set of "Elephant and Piggie" books, while Norah was hoping for "The Baby-Sitters Club," a set of books their mom said she enjoyed when she was young.
"I like all the different events they do, and the theme this summer was fun with the anniversary of the moon and the Apollo voyages," Abby Coates said.
Alex agreed, saying they had built models of spacecrafts out of LEGOs and other arts and crafts.
"I got to make the rover and the Apollo lunar lander," Alex said.
The Coates family also watched the science show, and Alex said her favorite part was the balloon rocket launch.