Faire Weather

Maker Faires in LA, Asheville, Shreveport, LA, and more

Author

Dale Dougherty
April 11, 2025

Table of Contents

City of STEM + Los Angeles Maker Faire

I’ll be heading to the City of STEM + Los Angeles Maker Faire, the largest celebration of science, innovation and creativity and LA County’s Official Science Festival on Saturday, April 12. It has a new location this year at the South Lawn of Exposition Park, next to the LA Coliseum, Natural History Museum, the LA Science Center and the not-yet-opened Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

The event will feature scientist and bestselling author, Jorge Cham. He is the creator of PhD comics – a.k.a Piled Higher and Deeper – has a new book out, Out of Your Mind that details Learn more about his work here: https://jorgecham.com/

Jennifer Blakesee wrote a preview of City of Stem + LA Maker Faire on Makezine.

Asheville Maker Faire last Saturday

On September 27, 2024, Asheville, North Carolina experienced devastating floods from Hurricane Helene. As Maker Faire Asheville producer and Maker Educator Christa Flores noted when asked about the clean up efforts six months following the storm, “We’re still cleaning up.” Christina and her team deserve a huge shoutout for organizing Maker Faire Asheville on April 5th.

Christina Flores with Maker Faire Asheville t-shirt

Asheville has a diverse maker community and in gearing up for their 5th Maker Faire on April 5th, the producers of Maker Faire Asheville wanted to share the resilience they experienced and witnessed in the immediate aftermath of the storm. These are, to some extent, universal stories of crisis: Each “emergency” of this scale requires individuals and communities to show up and come together in an effort to restore normalcy and the services that most people rely on. The resilience, sense of community, and ability to improvise and “make do” that has long shaped Western North Carolina, and Appalachia as a whole, were on display–add in modern maker skills and help was on the way.

“Celebrating Resilience and DIY Emergency Response” by Jennifer Blakeslee on Makezine.com

Here is a video of the Highlights from last weekend’s Maker Faire Asheville.

Shreveport-Bossier Maker Faire in LA

A “most fabulous, heart-warming” story was sent to me by Heather Kleiner, Ph.D., Director, Northwest LaSTEM Innovation Center in Region 7 in the build up to this Saturday’s Shreveport-Bossier Maker Faire. This is LA as in Louisiana.

“There were several field trips at Sci-Port today with hundreds of students throughout the Center,” wrote Dr. Kleiner in an email. “With the SB-Maker Faire coming Saturday, some Makers arrived early, particularly Joel Leonard and Dr. Maria Esquela, Pediatric Oncologist from Johns Hopkins and President of the Enable Alliance.”

Joel noticed a four-year old boy who was was born without a hand. “Joel asked the boy’s father if they needed a replacement hand. Upon an incredulous ‘Yes’ answer, Joel connected the boy, the boy's father, and Dr. Maria to go through protocol and conduct measurements for a new 3D printed prosthetic hand.”

Young boy with Dr. Maria

“For now, the boy is so happy he is grinning ear to ear like never before,” she said.

Joel Leonard with young boy with a 3D printed prosthetic hand

A group photo was taken of the class, with the boy holding up a sample prosthetic hand similar to the one he will receive for free. Nearby, the bus driver waited while the kids posed for the picture, saying, “you take as long as you need for our babies”.

“This is the third hand Maria has fitted for creation on her trip or while in Shreveport,” wrote Dr. Kleiner. “This is not just an Energizing Maker Faire. This is a Maker Faire Powered by Love! I cannot wait to see what the Saturday event brings!”

Congratulations to Dr. Heather Kleiner, Dr. Maria Esquela and Joel Leonard. It’s amazing that Maker Faire brought you all together to create much more than magic. Here’s local coverage of the upcoming Maker Faire.

CORRECTION: In last week’s newsletter, I wrote about the Very Big Shopping Cart and how it caused MPs on Barksdale Air Force Base to mobilize. I attributed the project to Jason Quail. It wasn’t the Very Big Shopping Cart but the remote-controlled Little Red Wagon (much smaller) that got the attention of the MPs. Jason is responsible for the wagon and the commotion but he didn’t have a hand in building the Very Big Shopping Cart.

Here’s looking at you, kid

Volume 93, the “How to TRAIN your ROBOT” issue, was sent off to the printer this week, featuring the Voxhead robot by Michael Brady on the cover. Lots of good stuff inside.

Maker Faire Bay Area Tickets on Sale Now

Early bird tickets for Maker Faire Bay Area are on sale now at makerfaire.com. No ticket fees this year - YEAH! Please plan to join us for another incredible year of celebrating makers by the Bay.

Make Things is a weekly newsletter for the Maker community from Make:. This newsletter lives on the web at makethings.make.co

I’d love to hear from you if you have ideas, projects or news items about the maker community. Email me - [email protected].