On the first Saturday of every month, starting at noon, The Valley of the Moon in Tucson, Arizona hosts an open house. You can attend a public board meeting or wander the trails, exploring until dark and beyond. Fantastic creatures and fairy lights populate the grounds after dark. Tours illuminate the history of the place and its underground cave halls, sculptures, and gardens. All staff are volunteers; many are children or young people who have the opportunity here to do practically anything: write a play; straight to the game; be a fairy, a wizard, a monster or a henchman, an elf, a vampire or any fantasy character of your own imagination. Kids organizes events; advertise events; sing songs; to write songs; help build things, solve logistics problems, and explore talents they may not know they have. The point is that children, in all their complexity and weirdness, are welcome here, as are their parents and other adults who haven’t lost their inner child, the explorer.

For nearly a century, Valley of the Moon has existed as two and a half acres of outdoor fantasy adventure. Its creator, a retired postal worker named George Legler, believed that exposing children to fantastical adventures inoculates them against pettiness of spirit.

The setting is perfect for something new: “Selenite Embassy,” a spacepunk fundraiser for Valley of the Moon (it would also work as steampunk, since the concept is based on the HG Wells novel). The first men on the moon, Victorian era). The general idea is science, art, theater, fantasy, alien mysteries, music, fun, food and shopping.

Here’s the backstory: the friendly Selenites (Moon People) have established an embassy in the Valley of the Moon, making it self-sufficient so as not to overpower. They call the land “Atlantis” and believe that the people of our planet settled in their country, which they call Selene, in ancient times. Color-wise, they prefer black and silver, with nearside individuals wearing hints of white and blue, or earth tones, reflecting the presence of Atlantis in their sky. For music, they love strings and wind instruments, and bells, especially wind chimes, as there is no wind on Selene (Greek goddess of the moon). His favorite food: anti-gravity truffles.

The business model is to market theme-appropriate art and technology, with vendors remaining in character as selenites, with each business participant donating a percentage of their profits to Valle de la Luna.

It is a work in progress, so far without a schedule, and just starting the search for participants. Think of it as a staple opportunity for anyone interested in a fusion of the arts and sciences, demonstrating products and technologies that could be used, someday soon, to provide life support for an actual space settlement.