In early June, I was invited to represent New York State Maker Movement at the White House for the National Week of Making. On the Thursday evening before the meeting at the White House, the small group of us (Pat Rapp, my wife, and myself) were all set at the airport waiting to board our flight when my wife noticed that our flight had been canceled. Seconds later, I rush up to the front desk, the official announcement goes out that all flights to the DC area have been canceled due to weather. The attendants said that the earliest flight out would leave at 5:30 on Friday morning, but there would still be a chance of delays. After talking it over, we decide to cancel all of our flights, pick up our luggage, hop in the car, and start driving to DC. After all, it was only a 6.5 hour drive according to Google Maps and was still light out at 7:30 in the evening. The drive was fairly uneventful. We had already had dinner, and traffic was next to nothing due to the late hour. We ended up checking into our hotel at 2am. Thankfully, with 3 of us we were able to take shifts driving allowing me to catch some sleep before the big day.

Kicking off at the White House

Before heading to the White House, several maker representatives and I met up for coffee a few blocks from where we had to go through security. After the fact, it did hit us that we never said what we looked like before the meet up. However, we were lucky enough that one of the representatives wore his Maker Faire badge, which acted as a magnet for the rest of us. Upon entering the room in the the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Grounds, we were greeted by Andrew Coy, the Senior Advisor for Making for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and then sorted by region. At the table where I was seated was Ryan Reedell from New Jersey, Simon Hamermesh from Delaware, Kristina A. Holzweiss, the founder & director of the SLIME Maker Expo, and a few members from various Federal agencies.

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We’re excited to announce that we will be redefining the concept of a “Green Room” for the 2016 Rochester Fringe Festival!We’re planning a Green Room that will be constructed of recyclables. It will be 20ft by 40ft room and constructed of almost 5,000 milk and water jugs. Inside the Green Room, you’ll be able to sit on furniture made of pallets beneath a chandelier made of recycled olive bar containers (the kind you get at Wegmans).

We’re building the walls in 4ft by 8ft sections (153 jugs per section). We’ll need 5 sections for the smaller walls, and 10 sections for the larger walls. The jugs will be held together using hot glue, nuts, bolts, and a few other surprises.

Now we need your help! Can we have your 1 gallon water and milk jugs so we can build this amazing structure? Please drop off the jugs at the Rochester Brainery near Village Gate.

We would also like to invite you to join our build crew! In late August or early September, we’ll begin building. Airigami has kindly offered up their new space, located at Made on State, as the build location. If you’re interested in helping us build the structure, or in becoming a drop off location, send us an email (rochesterfaireinfo@gmail.com) or sign up for our email list here:http://bit.ly/RMMFGreenRoom

We’re excited to announce that we will be representing the New York State Maker Movement at the White House kickoff for the National Week of Making tomorrow!

Be sure to follow all of our social media accounts as we will be posting photos throughout the weekend.

We will be staying in Washington DC for a few days after the kickoff to meet makers and other Maker Faire producers all from all over the country at the National Maker Faire. Huge thanks to our friends and mentors at NYSCATE for sending us.

Save the Date! The 3rd Annual Rochester Mini Maker Faire is November 19th, 2016.

We want to thank all of you again for attending the second annual Rochester Mini Maker Faire last year! This year’s Rochester Mini Maker Faire will be taking place on Saturday, November 19th, 2016 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center, so save the date!

If you’re interested in being a maker in this year’s faire, our application will open in either mid-May or early June.

Photos from last year can be found on our Facebook and Flickr pages.

If you can’t wait for the Rochester Mini Maker Faire to get your maker fix, we recommend visiting our friends at neighboring New York Mini Maker Faires:

April 16th – Mohawk Valley Mini Maker Faire
May 7th – Buffalo Mini Maker Faire
June 4th – Eastern Long Island Mini Maker Faire
August 27th – Troy Mini Maker Faire
Sept 30th to Oct 2nd – NYC World Maker Faire
October 22nd – Fredonia Mini Maker Faire

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

First of all, thank you for being part of the 2nd Annual Rochester Mini Maker Faire! Saturday was an was a tremendous success, far more than we could have imagined! We are so thrilled that everyone could make it out – all 3,000 of you!

Be sure to keep following our site as we will be posting some of our favorite stories from this past weekend here after Thanksgiving.

If you have any photos from the faire, feel free to share them with us! We have already started to post our photos up on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We’ll probably have all of our photos posted within the next few days. If all goes as planned, we should also have the talks, along with other footage, up on YouTube later in the week. You can find us at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RochesterMiniMakerFaire

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rochmakerfaire

Instagram: https://instagram.com/rochesterminimakerfaire/
Thank you once again for being a part of Rochester’s 2nd Annual Mini Maker Faire! We’re already starting to make plans for next year’s event. We should hopefully know more details within the next few months. If you would like to give us any direct feedback, feel free to reach out to us at anytime at rochesterfaireinfo@gmail.com.

The Rochester Mini Maker Faire is just 5 days away! We’re already pumped and can’t wait for Saturday to come. To help get you pumped, here is our schedule of talks that will be going on during the faire:

9:00 AM – Doors Open

9:30 AM – 10:30 AM: Tree Creations with Joseph Ferrero

11:00 AM – 12:00 AM: Airigami with Larry Moss & Kelly Cheatley

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM: The Crew from the “Making It” Podcast — Jimmy Diresta, Bob Clagett, David Picciuto, and David Waelder

All talks can be found upstairs from the main floor. Just take the escalator or stairs by Airigami’s creation and follow the signs.

TREE CREATIONS

http://treecreationsingeneseo.blogspot.com/

Joe Ferrero is building a unique, whimsical, and ever expanding treehouse village in his backyard and he invites everyone to call him up and come over to play. This is not a business; it’s his family’s backyard playground. Joe started Tree Creations on January 28, 2012 with a castle themed tree house. Other tree houses would also be connected with rope bridges and ziplines. It has expanded with an automobile (1946 Triumph 1800 Saloon), a veranda, a village square, a tea room, a wizard’s den, and the World’s Smallest Chapel. The present tree houses under construction include a “Doctor Who” Tardis themed elevator (to assist people that may be “ground bound” to get to tree house level), a 40 foot long pirate ship, and a music themed tree house, with many more planned.

AIRIGAMI

http://www.airigami.com/

Larry Moss began his career in 1985 as a NYC street performer, but has gone on to display his amazing air‐filled art in over a dozen countries on four continents. His achievements have been recognized by The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, CNN Headline, PBS, Smithsonian Magazine, American Profile and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Moss has appeared on The Martha Stewart Show, NBC’s “Today” and at the White House, and has set two Guinness World Records. Larry is the author of many published ballooning books and founder of BalloonHQ.com, a resource that services the balloon industry and communicates with over a half‐million visitors annually. Larry also has a degree in applied math and computer science, as well as a master’s in elementary education. Building community through his large‐scale art creations is of particular interest to Larry, and was the focus of his 2009 TEDx talk in Rochester, NY.

Kelly Cheatle loves creating in any medium. She received her Design degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a minor in Illustration and a major interest in every studio elective she could find. Her diverse knowledge of traditional materials and image‐making techniques has given her an appreciation for texture and dimensionality, even in digital formats. When given an opportunity to work with balloons during Balloon Manor 2006, she was excited about a new medium for creating artwork. Now, as a partner in Airigami, her design sense and illustration background have helped to take it in new directions.

This weekend is a popular weekend for Maker themed events! It’s going to be a busy couple of days, but we love weekends like this.

Barnes & Noble Maker Faires

If you haven’t heard yet, Barnes & Noble will be holding Maker Faires within 650 of their stores across the country this weekend! We’re lucky enough to have not just 1 store participating, but 3. The stores in Pittsford, Webster, and Greece will all be hosting their own events Friday-Sunday. Each store will have an area to meet local makers, make your own projects, and check out the maker supplies & gadgets that you can now find at their stores.

We will be talking about the Maker Movement, Rochester Mini Maker Faire, and how to make your own paper circuits at all 3 stores over the weekend. Our schedule will be:

Friday, 4pm-6pm at the Greece location (full schedule)
Saturday, 3pm-5pm at the Pittsford location (full schedule)
Sunday, 1pm-3pm at the Webster location (full schedule)

It has been an absolute blast working with all 3 stores in the area over the last few months. If you’re free at all this weekend, be sure to stop by one (or more) of the local participating stores. It’s a great way to get a sneak preview of some of the Makers that will be at the Rochester Mini Maker Faire in just over 2 weeks and learn about the Maker movement in Rochester.

To learn more about the Barnes & Noble Maker Faire, check out: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/h/makerfaire

Mayday! Underground

The Mayday! Underground Art + Craft fall show takes place on Saturday and Sunday this weekend (November 7th and 8th), from 10:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., at Village Gate. While there, you can buy from over 60 local artists and craftspeople from the greater Rochester area, including several of this year’s Makers. There will be everything from jewelry and handmade plush toys and monsters, to soap, shirts, and various art prints.

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It’s November! As we are now under 3 weeks till the Rochester Mini Maker Faire, we’re going to be trying to post several of our Makers every day. to kick us off, we’re excited that David Waelder and David Picciuto will be joining the other hosts, Jimmy Diresta and Bob Clagett, as speakers at this year’s faire.

David Picciuto is the founder of MakeSomething.tv and dedicates himself as to creating content to designing, creating and teaching the art of woodworking. In addition to being a host on the “Making It” podcast, he hosts “Makers & Shakers”, a new show on YouTube that features artists, crafters, wood and metal workers, and all sorts of makers. Last month, David’s book, “The New Bandsaw Box Book: Techniques & Patterns for the Modern Woodworker”, was released on Amazon.

Personal Website: https://drunkenwoodworker.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrunkenWoodworker

Book: http://www.amazon.com/New-Bandsaw-Box-Book-Techniques/dp/1940611326/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/drunkenwood

David Waelder is Jimmy’s shop assistant, occasional guest on Making It podcast, and has a growing YouTube channel of his own. David’s videos showcase projects built-in a not quite traditional way, and often with a humorous narrative. He has worked on a candelabra made of railroad spikes, a table made of car parts, a hollowed out phone book to hold his smart phone, and a Sriracha cake. You can usually find him around New York City, videotaping project and anything else he find interesting.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DavidWaelder/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidwaelder

We’re excited to announce that Jimmy Diresta and Bob Clagett will be giving a talk at the Rochester Mini Maker Faire this year. They are both hosts of the “Making It” podcast and are creators of countless maker tutorials.

Jimmy Diresta

Jimmy Diresta is designer, fabricator, artist, and an experienced television and YouTube Maker personality. He has appeared on Discovery Channel, HGTV, DIY, FX Networks as a host and co-host, and is regularly featured on Make. Jimmy has been making and restoring his own tools and using them in unique ways for over 40 years. Be sure to check out his AK47 Guitar on his YouTube channel, and come hear him talk at the faire.

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/jimmydiresta/featured

Personal Website: http://www.jimmydiresta.com/

Videos on Make: http://makezine.com/author/jimmy-diresta/

Bob Clagett

Bob Clagett describes himself as a life long maker. “As a kid, I built everything in my head, with cardboard, Legos or whatever I could find. It doesn’t matter what the material is, or what it’s for… I love making stuff. I love showing other people how I work, hopefully to inspire and empower them to make whatever it is that they’re passionate about.” He has worked on arcade machines, shop projects, and a Tron-inspired slab coffee table among other things.

Personal Website: http://www.iliketomakestuff.com/

Podcast: http://makingitpodcast.com/

We are proud to announce our first 29 Confirmed Maker Booths. We have a bunch more that have been accepted and we’re just waiting on their paperwork. We are off to a good start.

You can see the full list here: http://makerfairerochester.com/2015-makers/

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Adventures in DC: Our Trip to the White House

Kicking off at the White House

2016 Rochester Fringe Festival Plans!

Invited to the White House!