Manda Smith, left, helps her son Kymani, 6, build a pinewood race car at the 2014 Confabularryum event at Southwest Junior High School. At right is Azi Shirley, 4. Activities included hat making, pinewood car making and racing, design workshops and an air guitar workshop.

ConfabuLarryum, Lawrence’s festival of creativity, is back to break the mold for its second year.

The festival, hosted by Lawrence Public Schools and Callahan Creek, includes activities, presentations, workshops and exhibits. Among the diverse attractions: 3-D printing demonstrations, giant bubbles, digital animation, and an air guitar workshop and performance. Creativity is key in all fields, said Patrick Kelly, director of career and technical education for the Lawrence school district.

“We use creativity all the time in our everyday lives to solve problems,” Kelly said. “There’s a ton of evidence right now that in order for our economy to be successful and our students to be successful, innovation and creativity are critical skills.”

The festival will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 15 at South Middle School, 2734 Louisiana St. The event is free and open to the public and includes activities for all ages. The goal of the festival is to inspire students, teachers, parents and the community to be creative, Kelly said.

“There’s lots of ways to be creative, and this is just an opportunity to see how others are showing their creativity, whether that’s starting a new business or learning a new skill,” he said.

Several area organizations will be hosting activities throughout the day. The Maker Studio from Science City will bring back the “Nerdy Derby,” a pinewood car race. Lawrence Creates Makerspace will have paper boomerangs, and Creation Station of Kansas City will have paper hat making. The “Drone Zone” will give attendees a chance to learn about the unmanned aircraft, see them in action and learn to fly mini quad-copters.

Kelly said this year’s festival will also offer more physical activities, including dance, cardio drumming and a human-sized foosball event. But most importantly, the festival offers a variety of things for people to try out themselves, and Kelly said he hopes that the event helps people to realize that anybody can be creative.

“I hope that they see the power of learning and creativity and sharing,” Kelly said. “People just want to share their creativity and encourage others to be creative as well.”

A full schedule of events is available on ConfabuLarryum’s Facebook page.