Maker Faire 2009 at San Mateo

I have wanted to go to Maker Faire - a two-day, family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, CRAFT, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, science and technology - since I first heard about it last year. Luckily, it was in the cards for me to go this year, so my husband and I loaded up the monkey boys bright and early yesterday morning and drove 3 hours to San Mateo. We arrived about 10:30am, picked up our pre-paid tickets at will-call, and spent the day enjoying the creative, quirky, inventive atmosphere that is Maker Faire. It was like, tech-geek meets Steampunk meets indie crafter meets retro toy land meets 'refashion' and recycling artisans. It was amazing. . . . .and all my senses took it in. There were shooting flames and shooting diet Pepsi with Mentos. There were rockets launched into the air, a locomotive engine sounding off on a regular basis, giant metal wings spinning, musicians, the scent of delicious foods wafting through the air - which, by the way, was a cool, breezy 65 degrees. Best of all, most of it was hands-on, interactive playtime. You didn't have to walk too far to catch a glimpse of cupcakes on wheels, crazy modes of colorful transportation, or a devotee of Steampunk in full costume. Here is a jeep covered in Lego's, and you are encouraged to pick some Lego's and add to it. And there was also this marker-covered car and a candy-covered bike.Here is a picture of my favorite thing at Maker Faire -these incredibly huge metal wings that actually rotate in a full circle. I wanted to bring them home to my backyard. They were breathtaking!
Lunch break! I have to show pictures of us (or, at least my kids) eating food. It was quite yummy!

Here is the work of a bead artist who was demonstrating her lampwork bead-making abilities.

Take a look at these incredible structures - this one looks like giant cotton balls, and its base was designed to look like extra large bird talons.

(Have you noticed that I AM NOT IN ONE OF THESE PICTURES?! I am so use to taking the pictures that I forget to get in them. My boys will have no idea what their mother looked like when they were growing up. I am going to have to work on that!)

Here is our rocket building adventure. First, you buy the easy to assemble kit, sit down and put it together (they had helpers there to help the tech-challenged folks) and then take it over to a launch site near the parking lot where you can detonate your rocket. How cool is that!

Check out the Steampunk presence that was at Maker Faire. If you go to Etsy you'll see the kind of crafting that represents this culture. The jewelry was made from old clock parts, buttons, vintage ephemera, old bottles, gathered findings and fabrics, etc. Just all kinds of interesting vintage inspirations. Everyone was very gracious and let me take pictures of them.

We had a great, great family day! We will definitely be back to Maker Faire again!