Celebrating Makers at Maker Faire Kansas City

Have you heard of Maker Faire? It’s produced by Maker Media, which publishes MAKE: magazine, and hosts Maker Faires all around the world. When Maker Faire launched in the Bay Area in 2006, they realized the depth of the maker community, and that aspiring makers love hands-on activities and learning new skills. The events are touted as a “gathering of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do.” Sounds like a bunch of geeks to us!

Of course Kansas City had to jump on board the Maker train, and has been hosting Maker Faire Kansas City at Union Station for several years. For the GGB-KC June event, we decided to have a picnic at the nearby Liberty WWI Memorial, then check out the Faire. A few brunchettes had never been to a Maker Faire, so everything was new and exciting.

We saw robots, DIY science experiments, geek crafts, urban farming, sustainable projects, circuit boards, alternative energy cars, Tesla coils (that make MUSIC), cosplayers, and so, so much more. We spent about three hours there, and that was just the inside booths. Because it was about 1,000 degrees outside, we didn’t venture out to see many of the outdoor booths. Hopefully the weather will cooperate more next year.

Every booth proved to be a photo opp, from intriguing DIY demonstrations, to art made from recycled materials, to mind-blowingly brilliant science projects designed by kids. We all took a ton of pictures, but gathered a few below to try to give you a sense of what it’s like to attend one of the these events.

Be on the lookout for Maker Faires in your area – you definitely don’t want to miss all the geeky goodness to be found!