Houston Hosts its First Maker Faire

Education Technology
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Courtney Kilgard of Techno Chaos explains e-textile construction and the Lilypad Arduino controller at the Houston Mini Maker Faire

Over 2,200 people from the greater Houston area met at the Stafford Centre on Saturday, Jan. 19 for the first annual Houston Mini Maker Faire.

This inaugural event introduced the maker movement themes of creativity, invention, and resourcefulness to the Houston area by showcasing real people making real projects and learning activities for attendees of all ages. There were more than 120 exhibits on display, and more than 150 makers – ranging in age from 5 to 75 — to chat with. About 40 of these were young makers, many of them with clever inventions they were eager to talk about.

Highlights included:

  • The broadest display of educational robotics ever in Texas (13 different programs were on display, 11 of them side-by-side in one large coordinated exhibit).
  • 3D printing made its big public splash in Houston.
  • Cars designed to be the fastest street-legal electric vehicles in the world—and built in a maker’s garage.
  • E-textiles that use electronics to create customized fashion “pop.”
  • The area’s best gourmet food trucks, appearing for the first time in the suburbs of Houston.
  • More hands-on activities than you could finish in one day.

[make_slideshow slug=”houston-mini-maker-faire” title=”Houston Mini Maker Faire 2013″ link=”Start the slideshow”]

Congrats to co-organizers Mike Hinkle, Adil Jafry, Jacob Shiach — as well as to their entire volunteer team for a successful event.  We’re definitely looking forward to seeing Houston Mini Maker Faire No. 2!

And thanks to Mike Hinkle for this report and slideshow.

6 thoughts on “Houston Hosts its First Maker Faire

  1. Community Watch: Houston Mini-Maker Faire | woodshopcowboy says:

    […] You can check out what they wrote about us at: http://blog.makezine.com/2013/01/29/houston-mini-maker-faire-2013/ […]

  2. woodshopcowboy says:

    It was a great time – especially out in the chilly winter weather of 65 degrees, gorgeous sun and smiling faces. And thanks for the picture with us and the workbench. Nothin’ gets me going like bringing the woodshop to the masses.

  3. Planning Meeting: Tuesday, July 23 says:

    […] don’t know if there will be a Houston Mini Maker Faire next year, but we went to the first one this year and it was very […]

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Sabrina is the Maker Faire Program Director. She works on stage content for the flagship fairs (Bay Area & New York), and also runs Maker Faire's global licensing program for locally and independently produced Maker Faires. She also co-creates the East Bay Mini Maker Faire in her town, Oakland, CA.

View more articles by Sabrina Merlo

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