Portland’s third Mini Maker Faire was held at OMSI last weekend, and it was an impressive show. I was only able to go on Sunday this year, but I could tell from the difficulty finding parking that it was well-attended. According to OMSI, attendance was 6,700 and there were about 115 Makers exhibiting.
My kids once again spent a good deal of time at the SurplusGizmos booth making LED blinky bugs, which have become a Maker Faire tradition. We got to try out a Segway for the first time (briefly), make stomp rockets and cast metal keychains with Esco, make river rocks out of clay, and try out squishy circuits.
Unfortunately my camera was low on batteries so I didn’t film everything, but I did make this little video of some of the sights to be seen:
3D printers have been around at the last few Maker Faires, but this year it seemed they were everywhere, including at least three booths running demos of 3Doodler pens. There were plenty of hands-on activities for the kids—so many that we weren’t able to do everything in the four hours that we spent at the show. I hope next year I’ll be able to stay a little longer!
Thanks to OMSI and Maker Faire for providing passes for my family!
That looks so fun! We thought about going, but had lots of household projects to go to. Didn’t know your daughter played violin! I played for about 6 years. So rad!