By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Seven years ago, Princeton Tour Company owner Mimi Omiecinski studied the life of Albert Einstein so she could better educate her customers when they toured the town the late physicist called home.
Her curiosity led her to find that mathematicians would celebrate Pi Day on March 14, in tribute to the math concept that children first learn in school and also to Mr. Einstein, whose birthday, also on March 14, can be expressed as 3/14.
That sparked an idea to do something like that in Princeton — a local Pi Day celebration now in its seventh year with events spread over a series of days starting Thursday, with the bulk of the action this weekend. If you ever wanted to see kids dress up as Mr. Einstein or see who can make the best pizza “pie,” Princeton is the place to be.
“I’m just giddy on Pi Day,” Ms. Omiecinski said Thursday by phone.
Some of the highlights include a “pie” eating contest at 9 a.m. Saturday at McCaffrey’s supermarket. Contestants are allowed to use only their mouths to eat a mini apple pie — no hands allowed.
“It’s gross,” Ms. Omiecinski said.
That is followed by an Einstein birthday party at historic Morven, featuring a reenactor as Mr. Einstein, starting at 10 a.m. The event is geared toward children between the ages of 4 and 6.
One of the highlights of the weekend is the Einstein look-a-like contest at 11 a.m. in the Prince William ballroom at the Nassau Inn, and the Pi recitation at 1:30 p.m., also at the Nassau Inn. Both events are on Saturday.
Pi Day this year technically falls on Monday. But Ms. Omiecinski said there are too many events to squeeze into one day. In its history, the celebration has grown to attract people not just from Princeton, from as far as Illinois, to come for an event that has “taken on a life of its own,” she said.
In researching Mr. Einstein, Ms. Omiecinski learned that he could be the absent-minded professor at times, who got lost in the town he worked in as a faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Yet she also learned he was a “trailblazer,” in her words, on behalf of civil rights and social justice. She said he could be found visiting the then-predominately black Jackson-Witherspoon neighborhood, and was friends with Paul Robeson.
“It’s impossible,” she said, “not to fall in love with Albert Einstein.”
For a complete list of Pi Day events, visit www.pidayprinceton.com.
