#BestEver #DoItTogether #Gratitude
Doing it Together is powerful stuff. East Bay Mini Maker Faire is an absolute manifestation of team work and collaborative energy. Together we threw an amazing celebration this past Sunday: a showcase of creativity, invention, and curiosity.
Close to 200 makers generously shared their talent, wit, passion and projects. Over 250 Park Day School parents + unaffiliated helpers took shifts to power everything from hands-on making booths (e.g. Nerdy Derby, rockets, Swap, Learn to Solder) to parking to tickets and registration. 95 exhibits offered hands-on making or interaction. Sponsors gave in their own way—enabling budget for the jaw-dropping installations, or donating in-kind with infrastructure and supplies. A core team of 10 or so plugged away months in advance to push this baby to fruition.
Together we brought together 7,000 happy people on the combined Park Day School + Studio One Art Center campuses. Whether working or just experiencing the show, it felt like most people were experiencing something new, and receiving some bit of re-charge and inspiration. Thanks for not just coming, but for contributing, and for making this day with us.
Keep the making going — check out our Resources page for makerspaces and maker meetups — and see you back again in October 2015!
P.S. We’d love to see more pictures! Send links to info@ebmakerfaire.com.
That was one HECK of a show.
We are overwhelmed with appreciation for the spectacular day on Sunday. This year, our fourth, we showcased just under 200 makers and hosted 7,000 people on the combined venue of Park Day School and Studio One Art Center. The weather was spectacular, the depth and variety of content superlative, the community feeling strong. And we had the first-ever, full-scale crate stacking show very likely in the history of the planet!
Thanks go first to our makers, those creative, generous people. There is no Maker Faire without you. You are problem-solvers and you are by and large easy. You collaborate. You are curious and happy. Thank you for sharing your talent and your process and your prowess.
Then there’s our partners—Studio One Art Center, a fantastic arts facility owned and operated by the City of Oakland—and MAKE magazine, the entity behind Maker Faire. And our sponsors (just look to the right rail), those companies and institutions that understand the value of maker culture and how important it is to foster and encourage.
Finally there’s the community of Park Day School. How many of you reading this realize that the East Bay Mini Maker Faire is produced and organized entirely by the parents and staff of this progressive Oakland K-8 school? It’s a staggering accomplishment, even for a group of professionals, let alone volunteers. Thank you parents and staff!
Some nice news / posts came out about the fair:
- Inside Bay Area (San Jose Merc News + Contra Costa Times): “Oakland Maker Faire Brings Out Creativity“
- Makezine.com: “Making Makers at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire” as well as “East Bay Mini Maker Faire: A Kid’s Perspective.”
- And a congratulatory tweet from MAKE and Maker Faire founder Dale Dougherty: Congrats to @EBMakerFaire team, Park Day School and @sannmer on charming “fall festival” vibe for today’s East Bay Mini Maker Faire.
We’ve been collecting images and loading them into a Flickr feed. Please please share your images and videos—there were so many unique experiences at the fair that we’re just plain curious to see what you saw! Let us know via comments here, on Facebook or Twitter or G+, or email us at info@ebmakerfaire.com.
So *phew* we’re done for this year. But before you forget all of this, we’ve got a survey for makers and a survey for attendees that we would so appreciate if you would take a moment to complete. Your brilliant ideas, constructive critiques, and words of adoration are all very much desired and appreciated, and will help us be bigger, better, stronger, and more fun in 2014. See you then.
Photos by Stephen Jacobson, Ben Smith, John Orbon, Sabrina Merlo, Karen Marcelo and Jeffrey Braverman/MAKE. See the full Flickr gallery and attribution info here.
The Public Debut of a New Sport: Crate Stacking!
Crate stacking is a game. The objective is to stack as many upside-down plastic milk crates as possible and stand on the top. Stackers rest their feet in the handle holes of the milk crates, and the challenge is to place the next crate and transfer footings without losing balance and blowing the stack.
The set up is like indoor rock climbing or top rope climbing in that players are in a harness and are belayed for safety. Crates are tossed to the stacker when the stack is low, and then ferried by a rope on a pulley when the stack is high. When the stack inevitably blows, the stacker is held aloft as the milk crates scatter asunder. It’s fun. Really fun.
Want to try it? Crate Stacking will be going down on the front lawn of Studio One all day at East Bay Mini Maker Faire. Under 18 will need parents present to try. The highest stackers will be invited to a stack-off at 4 PM.
Here’s Crate Stacking game maker Liam McNamara, landing a record 26 stack: