MARS — The 400 educators who have descended on the Mars School District for the global Flipcon conference were treated Monday night to a taste of small-town America.

Flipcon is the Flipped Learning Network’s annual conference on the new method of education that switches traditional instructional situations. A flipped classroom sees students doing homework during class and listening to lectures and other instruction via videos at home.

The Mars School District has adopted the method for some classes.

The Mars Business Association, Mayor Gregg Hartung, and the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau hosted the celebration for the conference attendees from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday in the borough’s downtown. The two-day conference begins today.

The teachers, administrators and consultants rode school buses from their hotels in Cranberry Township to Mars, where they strolled Grand Avenue visiting the shops that remained open for the event, ate pizza, Chinese food, cookies and coffee, perused a selection of antique and classic vehicles lined up on Pittsburgh Street, and listened to classic rock being played live on the porch of the Mars Brew House coffee shop.

Smiles abounded among those in attendance, who chatted and snapped iPhone pictures of each other with the spaceship in the town square. The Mars History and Landmark Society also opened the train station museum and gave rides on the Mars Shortline miniature railroad.

Teachers and principals from Peru, Taiwan, Sweden, Australia and across the U.S. experienced life in Mars.

Weena Naowaprateep is making her first visit to the U.S. to attend Flipcon. The math teacher said she believes education in her native Bangkok can improve through flipped learning, which she said could motivate her students by integrating technology.

“And I have a group of teachers who believe, like me,” she said.

Naowaprateep appreciated the welcoming celebration, calling it “very special.”

Phil Stubbs and Colin Wood traveled to Mars from Australia, where they operate the educational company, Verso.

Their product is a web-based application that allows students to anonymously comment on challenges presented by teachers, which removes the social pressures at school.

Wood, Verso’s owner, said 1,600 schools around the world use the application.

The pair ate Chinese food on the sidewalk along Grand Avenue as they surveyed the one-square-mile borough.

“This reminds me of somewhere in England,” Stubbs said. “It’s like a village feel, you know?”

History and religion teacher Lotta Karlsson and principal Victoria Palsson came to Flipcon from Sweden. Both were impressed with the welcome.

“The hospitality here is amazing,” Palsson said. “It seems like the whole village has come together for this.”

Karlsson said in her country, people walk the streets with their heads down, not greeting one another.

“Here, everyone is so nice and says ‘hello,’” she said. “And the people of Mars are so proud of their town.”

Palsson said she is excited to have the opportunity to learn more about flipped learning.

“I am hoping to spread the flipped classroom concept in my community in Sweden,” she said. “I’ve seen the benefits of it.”

Hartung was thrilled that everyone, and even the weather, cooperated for the welcoming event.

“We have businesses, government and the school district working together, and cooperating to host this international event,” a beaming Hartung said. “It puts Mars on the map.”

He said thanks to the tourism bureau and business association, the event went off without a hitch.

School district’s assistant superintendent Matt Friedman said the tourism bureau paid for the food and drink,

Flipcon 2014 is being held at the high school, with dozens of presentations and workshops.