I just received the good news that Maker Faire, an annual celebration of creativity and collaboration, is returning to the Bay Area after a hiatus of several years. I attended every one since 2006, as well as Maker Faires in Tokyo, Rome, New York, Detroit, and Austin, and I'm looking forward to this one, too!
Here are the details, from Maker Media founder Dale Dougherty:
For the past couple of years, I have had plenty of people ask me when Maker Faire was coming back. Now I have an answer that I'm happy to share.
Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 will be held at Mare Island, a former naval shipyard across from Vallejo. It will be held over two consecutive weekends (Friday through Sunday), October 13-15 and October 20-22. We will be open on those days from 10-6pm. We plan to organize different groups of makers for each weekend.
Mare Island is a beautiful, historic location on the waterfront where makers can be indoors or outdoors. This venue is smaller in size than the San Mateo Fairgrounds, where we've previously held Maker Faire Bay Area. It will limit the number of makers exhibiting as well as the number of attendees per day. That's one reason why we decided to run over two weekends. At this new location, Maker Faire Bay Area will be less crowded and a more enjoyable experience for families.
Our goal at Maker Faire, as always, is to showcase the amazing projects of makers and encourage everyone to become makers. This year's Maker Faire Bay Area is an opportunity for us to start over again, and re-discover the enthusiasm of makers and and the ingenuity of their projects. This is what made Maker Faire popular among people of all ages and the reason it has spread around the world since our first Maker Faire Bay Area in 2006. I hope you agree that it's time to celebrate makers in the Bay Area again!
Would you like to participate in Maker Faire Bay Area? If so, please follow the link to our Call for Makers and tell us about your project. We are also looking for:
- Hands-on workshops
- Maker businesses
- Interactive Art installations
- Live music
- Games
If you have new ideas for this year's event, please let us know. We are curious about the kinds of projects makers have been doing since 2019.
We are looking forward to bringing the maker community in the Bay Area together again, as well as introducing the maker movement to a lot of new people. I hope you will join us as a maker, or as an attendee. Please help by spreading the word and tell people to go to makerfaire.com for more information.
We are excited to welcome you to Maker Faire Bay Area on Mare Island in October!
