Mini Maker Faire Lehigh Valley Town Hall Report

Mini Maker Faire Lehigh Valley Town Hall Report

We were at the Town Hall today about the Mini Maker Faire Lehigh Valley happening April 26th. It sounds like it will be amazing and is positioning quickly to be an incredible celebration of making and makers in the Lehigh Valley. There are opportunities for just about anyone in the Lehigh Valley to get involved. The enthusiasm for this event is amazing and it’s going to be a lot of fun to be involved in any capacity.

Mini Maker Faire Lehigh Valley

Who is a Maker?
Check out the variety of makers mentioned at the town hall!

  • knitters
  • gardeners
  • quilters
  • cooks
  • paper-craft enthusiasts
  • engineers
  • woodworkers
  • musicians
  • 3D printers
  • beer brewers
  • much more

Everyone is welcome to come share what they enjoy making with the community. There are opportunities to have a table, give a performance or give talks.

Sign-up To Show What You Make

Exhibiting
Top priority at this point is to figure out how much interest there is in exhibiting. If you have any interest in exhibiting, you’ll want to sign up for the “Call to Makers”. This will give the organizers an idea of what you’d like to share and how to keep you informed as things develop. We’re expecting something between 50 to 300 makers and we’d be glad to have you be one of them. (If you’re a Make Lehigh Valley fellow, note that when filling out the form so you can be around the rest of us.) We may end up with a whole section to ourselves. There will be an exhibitor fee Non-commercial vendors will be free! Exhibitors who are selling items will have a modest fee, but what that will be has not been determined yet. Don’t let that stop you from signing up to exhibit.

Find out more about exhibiting by signing-up.

Free Admission
Admission to the event will be free to the entire community. Feel free to start getting the word out there to friends, family and co-workers about the event. We heard of a paper rocket booth already being worked on to allow kids to build and launch some really amazing paper rockets. This has been a huge hit among kids (and adults) at other Maker Faires so it’ll be great to bring this to the valley. Other child focused events will also be around. Make Lehigh Valley will likely be teaching soldering again. 3D printers are almost certainly going to be spread around to enjoy.

Sponsors & Partners
There has already been a significant interest in sponsoring this event.  It will be held at ArtsQuest. That will be a beneficial partnership. Lehigh University’s Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation is also closely connected to helping make this happen. PBS39 is also very interested in both fiscal and other assistance. Lehigh Valley Tech and Make Lehigh Valley are, of course, closely connected with helping organize this whole event. We hear others are lining up to be a part also.

Find out more about sponsorship.

Volunteers
There are opportunities for people interested in volunteering for this event also. If you are passionate about supporting making in the valley, then perhaps this is the spot for you. You can start right away be telling everyone, inviting people you know who have cool things to show. Tell friends, family and co-workers.

Find out more about volunteering.

EDIT on 2 Feb. 2014:

  1. Good news, fees for exhibitors are only for commercial makers. Non-commercial is free.
  2. Corrected the name of Lehigh University’s Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation.

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