Science on the Square – One fantastic night blending science with downtown Madison businesses!

Back for its 9th year, Science on the Square will once again take over state street in partnership with the Madison Night Market to create a unique way to explore hands-on science activities while supporting local businesses and market vendors. In 2026, Science on the Square will kick off another exciting, 10 day, festival in celebration of the 16th Wisconsin Science Festival!

At Science on the Square, outdoor STEAM-themed activities will line State Street. Indoor locations will showcase interesting exhibits, talks, or activities for you to check out as well. Learn more about the science that surrounds us every day while exploring downtown Madison. Be sure to stop by the top of State Street (near the capitol) to see live physics demonstrations, create a fun glowing design on a giant Science Brite, and more. Then make your way down to Lisa Link Peace Park (400 block) for live music, stopping at hands-on science stations along the way! For those who fancied a pint, they could join our Stumble Into Science Pub Crawl.

The Wisconsin Science Festival and Madison’s Central Business Improvement District, in partnership with Brothers Molloy Events, are proud to bring you an event you won’t want to miss.

Madison Central Library (5-8:30pm)

• UW-Madison Astronomy – Stargazing Over the Square
• Stargazing will begin at dusk but stop by sooner for astronomy-related fun on the 3rd floor of the library!
• 5:30pm – Wisconsin Book Festival Author Event: Homesick for a World Unknown (Miriam Horn)
• 7pm – Wisconsin Book Festival Author Event: Every Living Creature (Joshua Mezrich)

Madison Children’s Museum – Free Family Science Night (4-8pm)

• Code to Connect – Coding Concept Activities
• WCER and the Dept. of Educational Psychology – Learning through your body at the MAGIC Lab
• Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection – Bug Out!
• Wisconsin Agriculture in the Classroom – Strawberry DNA Extraction
• SleepHealth Ambassadors – Sleep Superheros: Unlock your hidden powers
• ATC – How electricity flows
• Language Acquisition and Bilingualism Lab – Unlock Alien Languages & Play with Enchanted Stones
• Wisconsin Center for Origins Research – Origins of Life
• Cardea, Inc – Your heart & you
• School of Medicine & Public Health – Keep your lungs squishy!
• Social and Moral Learning Lab – Mind games: explore how your brain works
• BadgerBots Team 1306 – Robotics demonstrations
• UW-Madison Neuroscience Training Program – Human Brain Demonstration

Capitol Square

• MilliporeSigma Curiosity Cube
• Einstein Project Mobile Design Lab
• Undergraduate Genetics Association – Build a Monster!
• Wisconsin Sea Grant – Common Water: A Community Art Project
• WiscNet – Light Speed, Internet Latency, and You
• City Cast Madison – The Science of Sound
• UW-Madison Anthropology – Our Origins
• Engineers Without Borders – Build Your Own Water Filter
• Insect Ambassadors – Insect Exploration
• MRSEC – Materials That Change Our World!
• School of Pharmacy – Phun with Pharmacy
• Wisconsin Veterans Museum
• UW-Madison Cognitive Development/MELD Lab – Math Games!
• Society of Women Engineers – Make-Your-Own-Slime Booth!
• UW Medical Physics Outreach Committee – Ultrasound & X-Ray Activities
• Wisconsin Science Festival – Science Brite

100 Block of State St

• UW-Madison Women in Chemistry – Fun with States of Matter
• Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center – What is the Nobel Prize-winning telescope?
• WEMP – What’s Eating My Plants?
• The Wonders of Physics – The Physics of Being Human
• Forum Stage – The Wonders of Physics Live Shows
• Live physics demonstrations, 6pm & 7pm
• Ian’s Pizza & UW-Madison Chemistry Department – Boo Bubbles
• Ian’s Pizza – ‘What’s the Buzz’ special, limited-edition slice!
• Michelangelo’s Coffee House & Wisconsin Evolution – Evolution Exploration!
• University of Wisconsin Missing-in-Action Recovery & Identification Project
• Farm Bureau – Meet a Farmer & Discover Wisconsin Agriculture!
• Ice Age Trail Alliance: How Glaciers Shaped Wisconsin’s Landscape
• Wisconsin Geological & Natural History Survey – From Ancient Seas to Ice Ages: One Billion Years of Wisconsin Fossils
• Wisconsin Cheese Mart & UW-Madison Biochemistry – Digesting Dairy
• UW-Madison Jin Group – Shining Light on Chemistry

200 Block of State St

• USDA-ARS & Plant and Agroecosystems Science – Where in Time and Where in the World Did This Plant Come From?
• Sencha Tea Bar & UW-Madison Soil & Environmental Sciences – Soil Organisms: From Micro to Macro
• Wisconsin Energy Institute – Energy Exploration
• Wisconsin State Climatology Office – Measuring the Weather
• Madison Museum of Contemporary Art & Wisconsin Robotics – Art, Culture, & Robots

300 Block of State St

• UW-Madison Integrated Program in Biochemistry – Vitamin C Showdown: Which Juice Wins?
• Parthenon Gyros & UW-Madison Chemical & Biological Engineering
• The Soap Opera & McPherson Eye Research Institute – Can You Believe Your Eyes?
• Catalysts for Science Policy – Pollinators and Us
• UW-Madison Communication Sciences & Disorders – Rockin’ Ears! How We Hear and How to Protect Our Ears

400 Block of State St

• Le C’s Patisserie & Black and Brown in Physics – Physics of the Human Eye
• Morgridge Institute for Research – What is Fearless Science?
• Music Stage at Lisa Link Peace Park
• 5:15-5:45pm – The Raging Grannies
• Wisconsin Science Festival Information Tent (Ice Age Trail Blaze Scavenger Hunt – sheet pick-up location)
• PBS Wisconsin Education – Fun with Field Notebooks

Banner image by Ueda Photography.