By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
Math and science geeks have their moment in the sun with Geek Freak weekend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
”It’s a combination of a celebration of math, science, music and Einstein,” said Mimi Omiecinski, Pi-day co-founder. “Einstein was born on March 14, 3.14, the numeric equivalent of pi, so the whole town celebrates with all sorts of different activities.”
”The most obvious reason our event is able to be so special is that Einstein chose to live in Princeton for over 20 years and his birthday is on March 14 – Pi Day,” she added. “It’s an even more incredible coincidence when you add in our community hosts some of the most respected and diverse academic institutions in the world: Princeton University, Princeton Theological School, Westminster Choir College and, of course, the Institute for Advanced Study.”
”One of the best things about Pi Day Princeton is the genius way we work together as a community,” added Joy Chen, Pi-day co-founder. “The amount of time, talent, creativity and energy that all the sponsoring organizations and the volunteers put into the event is just incredible and it is a big part of the reason why this event is so special.”
Pi day festivities have grown in the three years the celebration has been held.
”Of course we have events which are typical for celebrating Pi – Pi Recitation, pie throwing, pie eating, etc. Our events add event to showcase all areas that were meaningful to Einstein – math, science, music and social responsibility,” said Ms. Omiecinski. “When you see an event added to the celebration, you can bet it has a significant connection to one of those areas. An example would be the Kids’ Violin Contest was added this year because Einstein adored playing the violin so Princeton Symphony Orchestra agreed to design and judge the event.”
Annual events include pi recitation, Einstein look-alike, re-enactors and pie judging and pie throwing.
”Every year we’ve expanded what we’ve offered. Last year we added pie-eating contest and a no-sock Sock Hop,” she said. “This year, we kept those events, but the sock hop will have a live band, Pi Fight, and we have more registrations for every event.”
A full schedule of the weekend’s activities is available at pidayprinceton.com or by downloading the Pi day app for mobile devices.

