Save the Date: October 14, 2012

Yep.  We’re gearing up for the 2012 East Bay Mini Maker Faire. Mark your calendars now for Sunday, October 14th!  Makers, please note our Call for Makers will go live in June.

Believe it or not, the planning crew is already busy getting things in order for the 3rd annual event.  We’re connecting with sponsors and media partners, getting a volunteer team ready to hit Maker Faire Bay Area May 19 & 20 for ideas, developing our presenter and workshop schedule, and figuring out how to make this year’s Faire the best yet.

As an an all-volunteer run event we’re always looking for people with energy and time to help out. So send an email to info AT ebmakerfaire.com if you want to get involved.

We’ll keep posting with details about the 2012 experience as they develop. Watch for our Call for Makers in June.  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to get the latest news. Stay tuned and spread the word!

Peeking Back / Gearing Up

Local filmmaker George Spies recently pulled together his footage from last year’s East Bay Mini Maker Faire  So nice to remember the crazy, wonderful, myriad of things going on simultaneously during year no. 1—all in absolute and  gleeful defiance of the rain.

There’s a bit of writer Michael Chabon and Howtoons illustrator Nick Dragotta teaching their “How to Make a Super Hero” workshop (so wished I had made that!). There’s proof about 2/3rd of the way through that thinker+tech publisher  Tim O’Reilly indeed taught jam making. Nice to see Cyclecide‘s Laird Rickard having fun on his own Dizzy Toy.

Music from EBMMF’s 2010 lineup carries the mood:  the music of El Cerrito from Daniel Popsicle orchestra, lady-toy-hackers Toychestra, and one-man band Hungry Hungry Ghost.  Vintage bicycle maker Slimm Buick makes tunes in a corner with a SPAM mouth harp, and Tin Can Banjo project generates jig with a homemade fiddle.

Makers, take a peek—Flaming Lotus Girls, Alameda County 4-H Club, Poetry Store, Ice Brain, Ace Monster Toys, Bucepheless, The Crucible, Nightside Studios, Paul’s Rides, Church of Craft—so many of you in there, doing your thing and making people very happy.

East Bay Mini Maker Faire No. 2. is just two months away now. The Call for Makers closes at the end of the month—but please don’t wait to let us know you want to participate.  And watch for news and updates of makers, performers, and workshops.  It’s all coming very soon!

Calling all Makers, Performers, Crafters!

So it’s the lazy days of summer.  But fall is just around the corner—including the second annual East Bay Mini Maker Faire on Sunday, October 16th.

Makers, performers, crafters, workshop leaders, and food vendors wishing to participate in this year’s faire should fill out our simple online form and apply today!   We ask you a few questions about what you’d like to show at the Faire, your production needs, your contact info, etc.  Deadline for applications is September 1. 

What are we looking for?  Pretty much whatever you make or do that you’re passionate about, as long as it’s something you can share with others.  Maker Faire features a huge range of things:  robots and electronics projects, homesteading arts, animal husbandry, kooky inventions, poetry writing, screen printing, music making, crafts and hacks of all kind…  Anything Do-It-Yourself, and especially anything Do-It-Together.

Your Mini Maker Faire submission can be a display of something you’ve done, an activity or workshop you offer, a performance, or for a space to sell your finished work.  Take the leap, set yourself a deadline, and apply today!

And shout it from the highest rooftops!  Send smoke signals, tweets, morse code, carrier pigeons, and paper airplanes…  
http://bit.ly/ebmmf2011call4makers

Wait, Before you go…one more thing

One last thing before school is out for summer:  The Park-only, early bird Call for Makers for East Bay Mini Maker Faire 2011 is now open!

This year the Park Day School official maker booths will not necessarily be tied to any particular grade.  We’re trying a slightly different way, with individual or partnership entries from teachers, students and parents.  Any and all Park Day School community members who have ideas perkolating for fun, interactive maker booths should step forward now and fill out an Early Bird Call for Makers application.

What were the Park booths last year?  Well, there was:

• butter making
• circus arts and juggle-ball making
• Bruiser the Re-user (the DIY recycled truck Pre-K project)
• the sand golfball “luge”
• rocket making and launching
• cobb bench building (rained-out, unfortunately)
• Atomic Art (jewelery and art of favorite elements)

They were all a great success, interactive, educational, fun, and demonstrated Park’s collective maker spirit.

So apply today!  Replicate one of these and/or submit new ideas.  Multiple applications by one maker is fine.  Later this summer we’ll pick a number of the best booth applications and have those leaders shepherd the pre-planning through the summer and into the start of school.  Then we will incorporate your day-of staffing needs into the overall call for volunteers that will go out to the school in early fall.  (You can seed those slots with friends and partners in crime, sure!)

The official Call for Makers / Performers / Crafters / Food Vendors will go out later this month.  But we thought why wait for Park’s own booths?  We have a few more days of community togetherness  until we get blown into a zillion disparate directions.  Here’s to the next year of fun and curiosity at Park Day—especially on Sunday, October 16th!

Kicked Off!

Big turnout at East Bay Mini Maker Faire BOOZE, BITES and BIZ party.  Don’t know if it was the oatmeal stout, the fresh chevre, or the fat-washed rye—but we got a lot done.  Welcome to the EBMMF Team!

P.S.  See you in San Mateo!

Toronto’s Mini Maker Faire Video

From our Mini Maker Faire brethren in Toronto!

We’d love to make something this beautiful with interviews etc for East Bay Mini Maker Faire 2011.  We’ve got so much to show off!  Anyone in?  Come to the kickoff meeting for Booze, Bites & Bizness…  this Wednesday, May 18th, at Park Day School!

Makers: Mini Maker Faire Toronto from Ryan Varga on Vimeo.