Maker Faire



Maker Faire is a convention of do it yourself (DIY) enthusiasts established by Make magazine in 2006. Participants come from a wide variety of interests, such as robotics, 3D printing, computers, arts and crafts, and hacker culture.

History
In 2005, Dale Dougherty founded the magazine Make: as a quarterly publication with Tim O’Reilly. The first Make: magazine was published in 2005 and the first Maker Faire took place in 2006 in San Mateo. Over the next 13 years, this inaugural maker faire expanded to more than 200 licensed Maker Faires in more than 40 countries.

Dale Dougherty convened the first Maker Faire in 2006 in San Mateo, California, drawing a crowd of 20,000.

Maker Media Inc. went out of business in June 2019, and Dale Dougherty rebranded as Make Community.

Flagship Maker Faires
Flagship Maker Faires are held in San Mateo, California and New York City.

The last Bay Area Maker Faire was held in 2019. The Maker Faire Bay Area was not held in 2020. This was due to the potential impact of coronavirus as well as the 2019 transition of Maker Media to Make: Community.

A revived Bay Area Maker Faire was held in October 2023 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California.

The New York Maker Faire is also known as the "World Maker Faire". The New York City Faire was cancelled in 2019 due to financial difficulties. The most recent New York City Faire was held in Coney Island in 2023.

White House Maker Faire
On June 18, 2014, President Obama hosted the first-ever (and only thus far) White House Maker Faire.

2008
Maker Faire 2008 was held on May 3–4, 2008, at the San Mateo County Event Center. Highlights of the Faire included a human-sized Mouse Trap board game, kinetic squid sculpture, 55' wingspan kinetic steel butterfly, bicycle-powered music stage, a solar-powered chariot pulled by an Arnold Schwarzenegger robot, and over 500 other booths from different makers. There were approximately 65,000 people in attendance. Featured guests included Adam Savage, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Lee David Zlotoff, Tony Baxter and Eepybird.

An additional 2008 Maker Faire was held on October 18–19, 2008, in Austin, Texas.

2020
Maker Faire XV was held online.

Worldwide Maker Faires
Maker Faires are also held in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.

Afrigadget, a website dedicated to African Ingenuity, was created by Erik Hersman in 2006 just a few months after Make Magazine and the first Maker Faire Africa took place in Ghana in 2009.

The first Maker Faire in the United Kingdom took place on March 14–15, 2009, in Newcastle upon Tyne, as a joint venture with the Newcastle ScienceFest.

In the US, the 2009 Maker Faire Rhode Island was scheduled for September 6–19. The first Maker Faire North Carolina was held on April 25, 2010, in Durham, North Carolina. It moved to Raleigh, North Carolina for 2011. In 2010, Canada had their first Mini Maker Faire in Ottawa, Ontario on November 6–7.

Maker Faire has spread worldwide, and the first Maker Faire in Hong Kong was held in 2014. The next year it grew significantly and was organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, led by Dr. Clifford Choy from the university's School of Design in November 2015 as well as in April 2017.

In 2015, the US Embassy in Cairo and Fab Lab Egypt started organizing Maker Faire Cairo that received thousands of visitors.

Mini Maker Faires
Make Magazine assists independent event organizers in producing small-scale Maker Faire events in local communities.

In 2011, Mini Maker Faires were held in Canada (Toronto, Vancouver), the United Kingdom (Brighton) and a number of cities in the USA: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; Oakland, California; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Fishers, Indiana; Providence, Rhode Island; Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; Poulsbo, Washington, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Linthicum, Maryland; Westport, Connecticut; Louisville, Kentucky; and Urbana, Illinois.

School Maker Faires
Schools are also able to host School Maker Faires.