Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival Returns May 5

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Imagine RIT festival to begin on May 5th

Visitors to Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival can race a remote-controlled robot through a maze, create a necklace using their own DNA, witness the latest in wearable technology, even play a tune on the “Larger Than Life Piano.”

For the fifth consecutive year, Rochester Institute of Technology kicks off the region’s popular festival season 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 5 on the RIT campus. About 380 examples of innovation and creativity—in the form of exhibitions, demonstrations and live performances—will be on display.

New this year to Imagine RIT is the E-Dragster Race. More than a dozen teams will face off against RIT President Bill Destler in an electric-vehicle drag race. The winning competitors can choose a grand prize of either $1,000 or an antique banjo from Destler’s personal collection.

“I want to dispel the myth that electric vehicles are glorified golf carts and cannot perform at the level of gas-powered vehicles,” says Destler. “We want to encourage our community to look into alternative transportation concepts that would be greener and could potentially reduce our dependence on imported oil.”

The E-Dragster Race takes place at 9 a.m. in campus parking lots G and H, preceding the festival’s formal opening. Vehicles will then be on display throughout the remainder of the festival in the Gordon Field House and Activities Center.

Visitors to Imagine RIT can also enjoy a variety of food and entertainment, plus plenty of children’s activities that ensure a fun, family-friendly environment. More than 107,000 visitors have attended the event since its debut in 2008.

Time Warner Cable is the premier sponsor of Imagine RIT. Festival admission is free, and parking is available on the RIT campus. There is also free shuttle service offered from Monroe Community College. Visitors can plan their day at the Imagine RIT webpage.