The fourth annual RI Mini Maker Faire happened this past Saturday: a great mix of makers (robots, crafts, music, art, design, electronics, beer), a great space, and a great day came together to give us the best RI Mini Maker Faire yet. Here are the ingredients that made it work:
Big thanks to AS220 for inviting us to be a part of their annual block party. We appreciate all the support, including the periodic shout-outs from the music stage and the listing of our makers in the event program (we were adding makers up to the last minute, so you’ll need to go online for the complete list). Thanks goes out to Neal Walsh for coordinating everything on the AS220 end. AS220 brought thousands of people out that day, giving us a huge crowd. The fact that it was hot outside and we had AC meant we had a lot of people come through!
Thanks also to Trinity Rep for their use of the excellent Pell Chafee Performance Center, and all their support with getting the space set up, understanding what we could do in the space, and letting us do all kinds of stuff. Thanks goes out to Meg O’Neil, Trinity’s Production Manager who worked with us all day to keep the event safe and fun. The Pell Chafee Performance Center is a great wide open space, and it was a real treat to work in it. Smoothest setup and load out we’ve ever had at a RI Mini Maker Faire. And we never blew a circuit breaker! (Most important, we never set off their laser-based smoke detection system that lurks right above the lighting grid).
Of course, putting on an event costs money, and thanks goes out to our sponsors and Kickstarter backers. This is the third time we’ve done a Kickstarter for the RI Mini Maker Faire, and it’s the third time it’s provided the major funding for the event. This also allowed us to not add an extra charge to attend (RI Mini Maker Faire was included in the ticket for the block party).
And we wouldn’t be anywhere without the volunteers and makers who made this event come to life—thank you all!
We haven’t yet set a date for next year, but we have some pictures for you from Saturday’s 2012 faire:
- Chris Connors’ flickr photos (thanks also to Chris for recruiting so many makers for us)
- A couple of Photosynth images by Jon Danforth of Maker Faire NC: in the dome and above the show (pictured at the top of this post)
- Rhode Island Brewing Society’s photos (open flame was one thing we couldn’t do in the venue, so they were right outside)
- My photo set
If you have any photos or videos, please share them in the comments!
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