By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
If Albert Einstein was alive, he might have been embarrassed to see people walking on Nassau and Witherspoon streets Saturday dressed like him.
The community paid tribute to its most famous resident during a weekend long celebration of Pi Day, an international event that takes on an added dimension locally. In other places, Pi Day is just about celebrating the math concept for the area of a circle, 3.14, held on March 14. But in Princeton, it’s bigger because March 14 is also Mr. Einstein’s birthday.
Billed as “geek freak weekend,” the 4-year-old celebration was a blend of the silly — including a pie eating contest that was scheduled for Sunday — to the curious, with Princeton University students showing how to solve a Rubik’s Cube in seconds. One of the highlights was the Einstein look-a-like contest Saturday morning in the Princeton Public Library in which child contestants came out wearing wigs, fake mustaches and other clothing to look like the famous physicist.
”I love your pipe,” Mayor Liz Lempert said to one of the hopefuls vying for a winner’s prize of — appropriately enough — $314.15 and a bike from Kopp’s Cycle Shop.
Local businesswoman Mimi Omiecinski, dressed in a long white coat that made her look like a doctor, organizes a celebration that drew 6,000 people a year ago. The owner of the Princeton Tour Company, wearing Converse sneakers to look like a “geek,” credits the success of the event to the community.
”I truly believe that this couldn’t happen anywhere else but an Ivy League town like Princeton. And not just any Ivy League town,” said the native of Tennessee who’s lived here since 2006. “It’s (a) family-oriented town, it’s a town that values culture, it’s a town that values social responsibility and academic performance. And those are all things that Einstein valued.”
Alexis Vassilious, of Cream Ridge, has been coming to the Pi Day all four years its been around. Her son, Jayden —wearing an oversized white coat, wig and black moustache — was trying to win the look-a-like contest for a second year in a row. It was not his day, as the top honors went to 18-month-old Louisa Bonner of Trenton.
During the competition, two older Einstein impersonators took the floor.
”I had to accentuate my age so normally I’m much more coifed,” said Dan Cantor of Princeton.
Mr. Einstein first came to Princeton in 1921 to speak at Princeton University, where he delivered four lectures on the theory of relativity. He returned in 1933 to become a faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study.
”It was originally going to be a six-month appointment, but with everything going on in Germany, it was extended to a full-time position,” said Eve Mandel, director of programs and visitor services at the Historical Society of Princeton, which was having the first of four Einstein birthday celebrations Saturday.
He spent the rest of his life in Princeton, living on Mercer Street, until his death in 1955. The Society has Einstein’s old office chair and other pieces of memorabilia.

