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Sebastopol, CA. April 25, 2011—Stroll safely down Crucible Avenue, even as flame erupts all around you. Hop on a solar-powered people mover to head for the soda bottle rockets. Grab a handy hula-hoop for a quick wiggle. Gaze through the cool dim of Chabot Lab's traveling planetarium. Experience two separate robotic competitions, see the world's largest mousetrap, visit the kinetic steam works, experiment with making your own 3D project, and tour an exposition hall given entirely over to darkness, neon, and performance.
But most of all, relax: You're at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011, the world's preeminent DIY festival.
Maker Faire runs May 21-22 at the San Mateo County Event Center, hosting well over 600 crafters, makers, engineers, vendors, and artists who come from all over the world to take part in this singular event. "Each year, it's amazing to see how many new Makers there are," says Maker Faire general manager, Sherry Huss. "The returning Makers love to challenge themselves by bringing new projects, so there are always so many great new things for everyone."
New this year is a wind-powered vehicle that travels faster than the wind; a robotic ball, the Sphero, that you control from your smartphone; the De-Car, or Driverless Errand Car, destined to pick up groceries of the future; and Socialbotics, DIY robots you control from your Facebook page. The UC Berkeley Solar Vehicle team will also be on hand to race their sun-powered cars and the Because We Can collective shows visitors how to build secret doors into public spaces. Towering above it all is artist Zachary Coffin's aptly named "Colossus," a 70-foot-tall moving sculpture composed of stone and steel and only ever before seen at Burning Man.
Sponsors are an integral part of Maker Faire, and our newest sponsor Autodesk will engage, inspire, and educate attendees this year and help more people participate in the world of design. A leader in 3D design software, Autodesk will showcase its software at Maker Faire in a way that's accessible and fun, helping to unlock the creativity in everyone.
Produced by MAKE Magazine and O'Reilly Media, Maker Faire is part playground, part science fair, part welding shop, part county fair and 100 percent unique.
Calendar Editors
A celebration of DIY culture, Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 runs Saturday-Sunday, May 21-22, at the San Mateo County Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo. Saturday, 10am to 8pm; Sunday, 10am to 6pm. $5-$25; 3 and under are free.
www.makerfaire.com. To purchase tickets, including weekend passes, see:
http://makerfaire-marketwire.eventbrite.com
Feature Editors
Maker Faire Bay Area can provide you with the following professionally produced Q&A features on visiting makers, replete with hi-res images, from makerfaire.com at no cost and with no copyright required.
- Interview with Zachary Coffin, "Colossus" creator:
http://oreil.ly/fXKDqd - Interview with Sam D'Amico of the Stanford Solar Car Project:
http://oreil.ly/gyMwIF - Interview with John Collins, the "Paper Airplane Guy":
http://oreil.ly/gq5yk0
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#MakerFaire 2011 hails DIY culture May 21-22 in San Mateo, CA. http://oreil.ly/iaWV6e
Maker Faire Sponsors
Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 sponsors include: ASUS, Autodesk, CLIF Kid, Chevy, Digikey, element14, Epilog Laser, Esurance, GE, GeekDad, GOOGLE, HP, Etsy, Microchip, Seded Studio, ShopBot Tools, Sparkfun Electronics, and Techshop.
About Maker Faire
Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 is slated for Saturday-Sunday, May 21-22, at the San Mateo County Event Center. Started in California in 2006, and now held in Detroit and New York, Maker Faire is the premier event for grassroots American innovation. Maker Faire is supported by MAKE Magazine and O'Reilly Media, the information source for leading-edge computer technologies. The company's books, conferences and web sites bring to light the knowledge of technology innovators. For more information about Maker Faire, please visit http://www.makerfaire.com.
About O’Reilly
O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.