Building 21 at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds on Tuesday night was transformed into a science laboratory.

Students from kindergarten through high school began setting up their projects and experiments for the annual Douglas County Science Fair.

More than 530 science projects originally were expected to be entered in the fair, which would have made it the largest in the event’s 52-year-history, organizers said. More than 70 of the projects were team efforts involving two students.

But a winter storm that moved through the area Tuesday caused the closure of some schools and was expected to prevent some students from participating, fair director David Nordlund said.

“I’m afraid it’s not going to be as big as we thought,” Nordlund said.

Nevertheless, the fair goes on today with the first round of judging taking place tonight followed by a second round Thursday. The fair will be open to the public for viewing of the exhibits at 1 p.m. Thursday. An awards ceremony will be at 7 p.m. Friday.

Douglas County Science Fair Judge Don Warders, left, helps 10-year-old Catherine Morel, a fifth-grader at Hillcrest School, set up her science fair project. Students and their parents ventured out Tuesday afternoon to set up projects at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds.

Projects this year ranged from plant experiments to subliminal messages delivered over television, Nordlund said.

The fair is organized by volunteers and the event is sponsored by Lawrence Parks and Recreation and Douglas County, which donates use of the fairgrounds’ building for the fair. Judges are from Kansas University and Lawrence public schools.

“We don’t care if a student’s experiment fails and doesn’t do what was expected,” Nordlund said. “They can still analyze it and find out what happened. That’s still good science.”

Businesses contribute money to pay for trophies and other awards. The Lawrence Optimists Club is the largest contributor, said Bob Suderman, who handles fund raising for the fair.