Mister Jalopy hosting American Maker at Chicago MSI, Saturday September 20, 2008

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Andrew Alter's Pico-ITX Johnny 5

From Chicago Museum of Science and Industry:

American Maker is a raucous daylong festival of homemade innovations and inventions, organized and hosted by MAKE Magazine. Picture your grandpa's weekend workbench projects… if they had diodes, circuits, wheels and fire.

Hacks, tweaks, mods and bends are part of the "maker" sensibility on display in the pages of MAKE. American Maker showcases this do-it-yourself mentality mixed with forward thinking, as grassroots innovators share their creations and spark ideas in others.

Part of LabFest, the Science Chicago kickoff event, American Maker will culminate with a panel review of projects. The winning maker will receive a $500 prize and gets published in a future issue of MAKE.

As a kid, my absolute favorite place in the world was the Stouffer's restaurant in Chicago – the mothership of the Corn Souffle, Turkey Tetrazini, Swedish Meatballs, Escalloped Apples, Creamed Chicken and Noodles Romanov. A close second was the Museum of Science and Industry with the submarine tour, coal mine elevator and ice cream sandwich vending machines.

This Saturday, September 20th, I will be hosting the first ever American Maker event at the Chicago MSI. And, hold on to your penny purses, it will be free! Free admission to the museum, free admission to American Maker, free admission to LabFest – that is a better deal than a Stouffer's French Bread Pizza two-pack!

What can you expect for your hard earned no dollars and no cents?

Makers throughout the day will show their homebrew robots, human powered submarines, ingenuous gizmos, a DIY laser cutter, a Kraftwerk-inspired electroluminescent prototype dress and lots more of the extraordinary things people build when they are doing it for the joy of creating. We will get all the Makers up on stage to show off their creations, needle them with questions and, at the end of the day, we will name a the grand prize winner who will walk away with $500 and a feature in Make: Magazine!

Come by and say hello! Did I mention the event is free?

American Maker schedule
Labfest at Chicago MSI, same day, same no cost