The Call for Makers is officially open for this year’s Maker Faire Rochester. As of the moment, this year’s faire will be taking place on Saturday, November 20th, 2021 in-person back at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center. If the current outbreak worsens, we will reevaluate this year’s in-person festivities. We will be sure to keep everyone updated as the faire gets closer.

The Call for Makers application can be found at: https://rochester.makerfaire.com/call-for-makers/

For those that have attended the Student STEAM Fest in the past, please know that we will be bringing it back next year should the circumstances allow, but for this year, we feel that it is prudent to hold off on running the event.

If you know of any makers who you think should be in attendance, please invite them or let us know!

Additionally, if you or anyone you know might be interested in supporting the faire, please introduce us!

Vaccine and Mask Requirements

Due to the increase of the COVID-19 Delta variant, we’re requiring all makers, volunteers, and attendees to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination for everyone 12 years of age and up. We will additionally be requiring that everyone in attendance wear a mask (all ages). By introducing a mask requirement for this year, everyone can experience a fun, safe, and exciting experience at Maker Faire Rochester.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at rochesterfaireinfo@gmail.com.

We’re excited to announce that we are joining forces with the producers of Maker Faire Long Island, Buffalo Mini Maker Faire, Fredonia Mini Maker Faire, Twin Tiers Mini Maker Faire, Maker Faire Syracuse, and World Maker Faire New York in conjunction with Make: Magazine, to produce the Empire State Maker Faire, an online event, on October 16th and 17th, 2020.

The Call for Makers is officially open today: https://makerfaire.com/empire-maker-faire-2020/

Our deadline is Sept 20th. Makers from around the world are encouraged to apply.

We would like to thank NYSCATE again for their continued support of Maker Faire Rochester, as they have been integral to our event year after year. The faire would not have been possible without their continued support. We are planning to be combined with the NYSCATE conference again next year when things are a little closer to “normal.”

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at rochesterfaireinfo@gmail.com or at empirestatemakerfaire@gmail.com.

EMPIRE STATE MAKER FAIRE: AN ONLINE CELEBRATION OF INGENUITY FOR ALL

Discover what makers can do at the Empire State Maker Faire, an online event on October 16 and 17, 2020. This statewide showcase, organized by local producers throughout New York State, will share the creative work and technical know-how of all kinds of makers who share a passion for making. The event features demonstrations, performances, and how-to workshops – everything from robotics to woodworking to flaming art. Empire State Maker Faire is free and open to the public.

On Friday, October 16th, Empire State Maker Faire offers a day for students to explore making in science, art, and technology with hands-on activities that can be done at school or at home. Live sessions and a variety of public programs will happen on Saturday. An online showcase of makers and projects will be exhibited on MakeFaire.com.

Would you like to share what you make at The Empire State Maker Faire? The Call for Makers, an open call for entries, will be available online in mid-August. See Makerfaire.com for more details.

Save the date and follow https://rochester.makerfaire.com/ and on social media for updates.

Empire State Maker Faire is presented by the producers of Maker Faires in Rochester, Long Island, Buffalo, Fredonia, Twin Tiers, Syracuse, and World Maker Faire, in conjunction with Make: Community (https://make.co/ )

Media Contacts:

Pat Rapp

Maker Faire Rochester, Co-Chair

NYSCATE Maker Chair
rochesterfaireinfo@gmail.com

Dan Schneiderman
Empire State Maker Faire, Lead Producer & Coordinator

NYSCATE Maker Chair
schneiderman.daniel@gmail.com
585-478-6898

Gillian Mutti
Maker Faire/Make Community
Gillian@make.co

MythBusters Jr. co-host Elijah Horland will be busting out his personal projects at this year’s Maker Faire Rochester!

Elijah is a self-taught maker, programmer, and circuit extraordinaire who has been making since he was 9.

Now 14, he is still making projects including larger-scale acoustic levitation “BigLev” scratch-built device and a high-altitude balloon with an air raising backstory. His current projects include reviews for small electronic devices and entry into Allie Weber’s “Hack-A-Pumpkin” challenge, which will be unveiled on Halloween.

Elijah will also be holding a Q&A session on our main stage this year!

If you see any Googly Eyes floating around the faire, you might want to find his booth and ask Elijah about them.

Meet 13-year-old @MythBusters Jr. co-host Elijah Horland from Brooklyn, a self-taught maker, programmer and circuit wiz who started building PCs and “Franken-Mac” computers when he was 9 years old. See him in action when #MythBustersJr premieres Jan. 2 @ 9P. #science #stem #maker pic.twitter.com/wpNNRew9VP

— Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) December 31, 2018

We have over 100+ makers signed up and so can you! There is only just over a week left to sign up as a maker for this year’s faire!

Call for Makers is now officially open for Maker Faire Rochester 2019

This year’s events will be taking place on Friday, November 22 & Saturday, November 23, 2019 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center, so save the date!

We continue to grow! Last year we had a record breaking year for us with 150+ makers and 5,000 people in attendance. This year we have even MORE room to grow and would like to hit 200+ Makers. Can you help us? We will also have a large stage, so if you know any performers, ask them to consider applying.

You can apply to be a Maker Friday for the Student STEAM Fest, Saturday for the Maker Faire, or for both days. As a heads up, we will be accepting makers for both days on a rolling basis, and the individual days in batches. This will hopefully make mapping easier so makers who attend both days don’t have to move their booths.

The Student STEAM Fest will be a sneak preview for students in 3rd through 8th grade. The day will run from 9:00 am – 2:30 pm on Friday November 22nd. We do encourage makers to have hands-on activities or demos to show the attending students. To keep all activities accessible to all students, we will not be allowing any sales on this day. However, commercial makers that attend the Friday Student STEAM Fest to provide demonstrations and/or free hands-on activities for students will be eligible for a discount on Saturday’s Commercial Maker fee. Please consider helping us inspire children to become future makers. Apply today for BOTH days!

We hope to have load-in for the Student STEAM day take place on Thursday night and Friday morning (we’re still working out the final details). Load in for Saturday should be the same as previous years.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at rochesterfaireinfo@gmail.com.

A number of folks have already reached out to us about the latest news from Maker Media about Maker Faire halting operations. Dale Dougherty, the founder of Maker Media and Maker Faire, will be trying to keep the licensing program that we’re under to continue for the hundreds of independently-produced Maker Faire events around the world.

We want to let everyone know that Maker Faire Rochester will continue no matter what.

Everyone on the Maker Faire Rochester and NYSCATE team is dedicated to continuing on with the faire and spreading the maker spirit across the region and beyond. Remember to save November 23rd for our 6th event. We’re already making plans on growing the event and adding more makers.

We do want to send hugs to all of our friends at Maker Media who we’ve been lucky enough to work with over the last 5 years. Their team was filled with incredible folks that continue to inspire us. We’re sure we’ll run into them and hopefully work with them again in the future.

Here are some of the questions we’ve been getting, and the answers to go along with them. If you need further details, please contact us at rochesterfaireinfo@gmail.com or Facebook.

Who is Maker Media, and what do they have to do with Maker Faires?

Maker Media published MAKE: magazine and created Maker Faire. They produced two Maker Faire events, San Francisco and New York, and they licensed the name to hundreds of community organizers around the world who produce more than 200 independent Maker Faire events.

In New York, Rochester host larger two-day Maker Faire events, and single-day Mini Maker Faire events are held or are coming up in Buffalo, Fredonia, Utica, Horseheads, Schenectady, Port Jefferson

As we mentioned, the production teams for these events license the trademarked Maker Faire name from Maker Media. There is brand recognition in the name and in the Maker Movement, and there is a collaboration between the organizations who run them.

Hang on, I still don’t know what a Maker Faire is. Can you explain?

Maker Faire events are an opportunity for curious people who enjoy learning to see what others in the community are working on. It’s a marketplace of ideas and experiments, where makers can show off their passion projects, hobbies, and more.

So all the events are going on as planned?

Yes! Rochester “Call for Makers” to exhibit will start in late June, and tickets go on sale later this summer.

We love the Maker Media organization and the team that worked there. They helped us get Maker Faire Rochester started, and they offered an incredible amount of help and advice to make it a better event year after year.

We need community support more than ever. Now is the perfect time to get involved if you want to continue Maker Faire in your local community.

Who runs Maker Faire Rochester?

Maker Faire Rochester is an all-volunteer event that is led by NYSCATE a state-wide non-profit. We’ve been doing this for six years, and have no plans on stopping anytime soon.

If you’re interested in getting in touch with us or any of the Maker Faire organizers, let us know at rochesterfaireinfo@gmail.com.

How can I help?

Thank you! Tell your friends! Invite your neighbors! Yell from the rooftops! But only during the day, please.

Maker Faire Rochester is November 22nd and 23rd. If you want to exhibit, volunteer, or attend, please sign up for future news through our email updates. Follow us on Facebook.

All the proceeds from Maker Faire Orlando go back into the local maker community, and we’re always looking for sponsors who value hands-on education and strong community-building events. We need your support now more than ever. The Greatest Show (& Tell) on Earth will go on!

Maker Faire Rochester will be back and better than ever on Saturday, November 23rd! Last year we had over 150+ makers, 5,000 attendees, and our first Student STEAM Fest. This year we’re planning on expanding even more!

Our Student S.T.E.A.M. Fest will also be returning on Friday, November 22nd for 3rd to 8th graders. For more information, visit https://rochester.makerfaire.com/student-steam-fest/

The official Call for Makers should be launching at the May or early June.

Maker Faire Rochester Outreach Ambassadors:

As we start to expand the faire even more, we’re looking to volunteers to help represent Maker Faire Rochester at more events across the region. If you’re interested, please let us know!

Upcoming Events:

While Maker Faire Rochester may not be until November, here are a few events that we’re planning on attending over the next few months:

May 4th – FLX Maker Fest
May 18th – 2019 ROC Game Fest Spring Mini Show
May 31st – RMSC Almost Overnight: Grab your Goggles!
June 21st – 27th – National Week of Making

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about how to become a maker or anything about this year’s faire.

It’s been an incredible year for Maker Faire Rochester! In 2018, we gave a talk on community involvement for the Maker Faire Producers Virtual Summit, attended the 1st Nation of Makers Conference and several Maker Faires across NY, ran tons of hands-on maker activities at the RMSC, Strong Museum, throughout the Monroe County Library System, the FLX Maker Fest, and the Rochester Fringe Festival. The biggest news of the year was becoming a full Featured Maker Faire and expanding to 2 days to include our first annual Student S.T.E.A.M. Fest. Even with the snow storm, we had 5,000 attendees and 150 makers, including makers who traveled from Canada, Italy, and South Korea.

Huge thank you to all of our makers, volunteers, sponsors, Make, our producing team, and especially our parent organization, NYSCATE. We hope everyone has an incredible New Year!

What a way to celebrate our first year as a Featured Maker Faire! Friday and Saturday were beyond incredible at this year’s Maker Faire Rochester and inaugural Student S.T.E.A.M. Fest! Even with the snow, we broke all previous records and had somewhere between 4.5k and 5k attendees!

This year would not have been possible without our 150 makers and interactive exhibits (including Makers from Italy and South Korea), 100+ volunteers, along with our incredibly generous sponsors to make this huge event happen year after year.