MANKATO – One ripple effect of the Kansas Mammoth Art and Music Festival is that people learn new information that they might benefit from in their own lives.

At the event June 21 and 22 this year, attendees learned about solar cooking. The Saturday of the festival fell on the summer solstice, and a giant solar oven was hauled to the Mankato Park. Center Fire Pizza of Kensington cooked pizzas, cookies and s’mores on the industrial-sized oven and sold solar-cooked pizza all day.

A few smaller solar ovens were on display, and a DIY oven made from a Pringles can that kids could take home to cook hot dogs and marshmallows in was featured.

The annual event was supported by a Hansen grant.