Maker Faire Bay Area Review

Last Saturday I attended the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo with my friend Tam and her daughter Sonia, above right - checking out the cool Pantone patterned fabric at the Spoonflower booth.

It was a beautiful day for the event, and the crowd was HUGE. Lots and lots of kids, and people of all ages. I liked seeing parents peddling to run the human-powered arcade rides, so that their kids could enjoy the thrill of swinging through the air. I liked the giant funky, hand tooled bikes, and the electric-powered easy chairs and cupcake cars swirling through the crowd.

There were lots of interesting things to see, but the craft section of the Maker Faire was a disappointment. The section allotted to hand and needle crafts was small and very crowded. There was a place where people could sit and learn to knit, crochet, needlepoint, and spin. I tried my hand at spinning, but there were only a few small booths on felting, quilting, and sewing. I could hardly move through the isles between them. The Swap-a-rama, on the other end of the fair ground, was depressingly empty of people.

Mostly the Maker Faire was about DIY tech, low tech and high tech, and more tech. Ah the way the world goes... While standing in the overcrowded puny crafts section I overheard a college aged guy pejoratively comment to his friends, "I feel like I'm in the land of homemade Christmas presents."