Kids can learn to make nachos without having to play with fire or wait for heating coils to warm or to even press buttons on a microwave.
At the 24th annual Tucson Solar Potluck on Saturday, they can make the sun do the cooking.
It's a fun way to teach children that "the solar power stuff really does work," said Toby Schneider, who demonstrates solar-powered ovens at local schools.
Schneider will have boxes, aluminum foil, glue, jars, cooking bags and crayons for youngsters to create a kid's cooker at the event in Catalina State Park.
He'll also have the fixings to make nachos, which take about 15 minutes to cook, and apple crisp, which takes an hour.
"They don't have to bring anything except their imagination," said Schneider, a part-time consulting engineer for electronic design. "They leave the potluck with their own oven."
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Plenty of cooking will go on at the event put on by Citizens for Solar, a group dedicated to educating the public about the benefits of solar power.
Some 50 solar ovens will cook casseroles, chili, bread, cookies, beans and rice, vegetables, turkey and other foods.
They will feed at least 100 people when the potluck is served at around 5 p.m., said Bill Cunningham, chairman/ president of Citizens for Solar.
Anyone with a solar oven is welcome to go to the event to cook, he said. Others who want to participate can contribute other items, such as salads and beverages.
While the ovens provide a tasty demonstration of how solar power works, other products also will show what a harnessed sun can do.
Water fountains and cooling units will be operated without being plugged into electrical outlets.
Solar-generated power will be supplied for the instruments that some performers will use during stage entertainment and the equipment to play recorded music.
Batteries charged by the sun will illuminate the event as the sun sets.
The group will sell a cookbook of recipes for solar ovens. Business representatives will provide information on solar products.
The potluck, the main project of Citizens for Solar, has grown over the years. It started as a 25-oven cookout in the parking lot of a bar and motel on the Southwest Side, said Cunningham.
"Those first couple of years, people would come to cook and eat," he said. "Now it's expanded to people who want to come to learn about solar."
It has rained or clouded over at the potluck for only two or three years' events. The weather has never been bad enough to cancel the feast.
"We're hard-core solar people," Cunningham explained when asked why the event endures. "We don't quit that easy."
Quick Take
Tucson Solar Potluck
What: Demonstrations and activities on solar power, entertainment and a community meal with solar-cooked dishes.
When: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Catalina State Park's large-group use area. The park is in Oro Valley on North Oracle Road at Milepost 81.
Admission: The potluck is free, but the park will charge admission of $6 per car with as many as four adults, $2 for each additional adult. Park visitors age 13 and younger are admitted for free.
Information: 885-7925
