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Check out the Science Factory’s Facebook page for additional pictures. Thanks again to the makers and visitors who helped to make our first Mini Maker Faire a success. See you next year!

Huge thanks to all of the makers and visitors who made the inaugural Eugene Maker Faire a success! Special thanks to Brookelynn of MAKE magazine for setting up our live Google Hangout with the good folks at Maker Faire North Carolina. We’ll post some follow-ups next week… after we’ve recovered.

The front lawn of the Science Factory is looking awfully quiet this afternoon. But tomorrow, it will be a whole different story! We have rocket launches scheduled for noon and 2PM, and who knows what else will be flying across the lawn all day!

There’s plenty more to see and do tomorrow as well, from electric bicycles to basketball-playing robots, from knitting and crocheting to geometric constructions, from marshmallow shooters to optical illusions, and lots more! We’ll even have a bee counter!

Advance tickets are still available, and if you purchase or register tonight, you’ll be eligible for our prize drawing! If you can’t join us live, we’re doing a Google Hangout with our friends at MAKE Magazine and Maker Faire North Carolina starting at 12 noon. We hope to see you in person or online!

We hope you can join us this Saturday! Tickets are still available in advance through tomorrow evening, and at the door on Saturday. Please make note of some updated parking info, as we’ll be sharing the park with some visitors from Lake Wobegon. The lot may be crowded after 1:00, so your best bet is to arrive early!

In case you need a bit more incentive, here’s a news story on one of our makers, Lance Richards of Steamwork Cycles. We’re very excited to have him here with his bikes! Come by and check them out on Saturday along with the rest of our makers.

We’re thrilled to have OregonRocketry (OROC) and Eugene Rocketry (EUROC) participate in the Eugene Mini Maker Faire! Since 2002, OROC has invited model rocket builders from all over Oregon to build rockets, participate in launches, and share their rockets with each other and the public. EUROC was recently founded to accommodate rocketry interest in the Eugene area. Both organizations are chapters of the National Association of Rocketry.

The video above shows EUROC’s most recent monthly Launch Party. It looks like they had a great time! If you’d like to join EUROC for their next launch (June 17th, the day after Maker Faire!), check out their website or come meet them at the Maker Faire.

And for something REALLY spectacular… Gary, one of the members of EUROC, recently carried out a high-powered launch at OROC’s launch site in Brothers. Here’s the video… from the rocket’s perspective!

As you can see, these rockets are not just toys… some of them can fly tens of thousands of feet into the air! You’ll get to see some of these rockets up close at the Eugene Mini Maker Faire, and talk to their makers! Get your advance tickets now or join us at the Science Factory on June 16th!

We are now selling online advance tickets to the Eugene Mini Maker Faire! Buy your tickets early and have the chance to win prizes from the Science Factory and MAKE Magazine! If you are a Science Factory member, admission is FREE but we still invite you to register in advance and be eligible for the prize drawing. Tickets will also be available at the door on June 16th.

The Faire is coming up in just ten days! We have updated our list of makers, and in the next few days we’ll be posting more information about what to expect from this talented community of do-it-yourself science and technology enthusiasts.

Maker Faire San Mateo was last weekend on May 19 and 20 and a few of us went down there to take part in all the fun.  ”What exactly is Maker Faire?” you may ask.  It’s difficult to describe Maker Faire to someone who has never been.  Maker Faire is possibly best described as the greatest show and tell on Earth.  There are a lot of creative people out there and they like to make things.  Maker Faire is a place to bring those things and people together so they can show off their work and become inspired.  It doesn’t matter if the work is electronic, artistic, practical, or virtual.  Maker Faire is a fantastic inspiration and motivator to get others to start making.  That is why we are compelled to bring a bit of the Maker Faire flavor to Eugene.  To help illustrate just what Maker Faire is, here are a few photographs we took at last weeks Maker Faire in San Mateo.

That is just a tiny fraction of what Maker Faire has to offer.  There are so many incredible things to see that have all been made by regular people.  We are excited to bring a taste of Maker Faire to Eugene so we can see what local residents are making.  Do you have something you want to show off?  Do you know someone who makes really cool stuff?  Sign up for a table and show the world how awesome you are!  If not, never fear.  Just show up to the faire and see what others have done.  You are bound to find some inspiration and walk away with a new outlook on the world around you.

We are very excited to have the South Eugene Robotics Team (SERT) as makers! Founded in 2007, the team competes each year in the FIRST Robotics Competition, a worldwide contest for high school students.

Each year, students design and build robots to complete specific missions with limited materials and a tight time frame. They compete in regional and international matches, including the Autodesk Oregon Regional held in Portland in March.

This year’s competition was entitled “Rebound Rumble,” and required students to create a robot that could shoot basketballs and balance on a platform. You can see a video of SERT’s robot (2521) in action below.

If you’d like to see this amazing robot, and its even more amazing creators, in person, join us for the Eugene Mini Maker Faire on June 16th at the Science Factory!

While we here in Eugene are very proud of our local community of do-it-yourself-ers (and we’ll be featuring them on this site soon!), it’s worth pointing out that our Maker Faire is part of something much bigger.

In the past month alone, there have been Mini Maker Faires in Shenzhen, China; Minneapolis; Urbana, Illinois; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Chicago; Burlington, North Carolina; Westport, Connecticut; and Lubbock, Texas. In just a few weeks, the Maker Faire Bay Area will attract tens of thousands of visitors. And our neighbors in Seattle and Poulsbo, Washington will have Maker Faires of their own in June, along with international Maker Faires in Seoul and Derby.

By being part of the Eugene Mini Maker Faire, you’re joining not only the local makers, but a truly worldwide movement of creativity, ingenuity, science, and art. Sign up today to be an exhibitor, or attend the faire on June 16th!

If you want to see what a Maker Faire is all about, the next best thing to attending a Maker Faire is to watch this short video produced at last year’s Toronto Mini Maker Faire. If this video inspires you, apply to be a maker here in Eugene!

Makers: Mini Maker Faire Toronto from Ryan Varga on Vimeo.