Hello everyone,

Want to bring your hobby, invention, school project, or product to the Wayne County Mini Maker faire?  We’d love to have you!  Act fast; the application deadline is April 1st!  You can signup here.

The Wayne County Mini Maker Faire is a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness and a celebration of the Maker Movement.  It’s a place where people show what they are making, and share what they are learning.  Makers range from tech enthusiasts to crafters to homesteaders to scientists to garage tinkerers. They are of all ages and backgrounds. The aim of Maker Faire is to entertain, inform, connect and grow this community.

The Daily Record said it best: “Dubbed the ‘Greatest Show and Tell on Earth’; over 1,300 people flocked to the second annual faire at the University of Akron Wayne College last May.  It was a fresh experience with favorite makers from last year coming back along with new makers and new things to see and do.

Maker Faires are incredible at any size.  In its simplest form, Maker Faire creates opportunities for conversations with Makers.  Tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and entrepreneurs all come together to show their projects and to talk about what they have learned. It is a community based learning event that inspires everyone to become a maker, and connect with people and projects in their local community.  Yet, Maker Faire is a “fair” — fun, engaging, and exciting.

While most Maker Faires are offered in parks, community centers, and at other outdoor/indoor venues, schools can also participate in the Wayne County Mini Maker Faire because they are a perfect combination of part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new.  School Maker Faire exhibitors, or “makers,” are primarily students—either as individuals, clubs, classes or groups. And Maker Faire exhibits can be from any discipline — from science to art to gardening to engineering to craft.

The Wayne County Mini Maker Faire is perfect for your school to showcase the making already taking place, replace a more limited science fair model, connect with larger creativity, innovation, STEM, or art initiatives, cultivate awareness of the Maker Movement, and build school community. 

We are proud to showcase Ohio makers who participated in the Wayne County Mini Maker Faire last year.  One of these groups is the Orrville Public Library.  At this year’s faire, they will reveal their new Memory Lab!  The Lab is a space for the community to learn how to access, digitize, and share old videos, audio recordings, photographs, and slides.

You can freely use equipment in the Memory Lab to convert vinyl record, 8mm/Super 8, VHS/DVD, floppy disk, and audio cassette to digital format.  There is also a slides/35mm scanner, document scanner, and photo scanner.  Feel free to stop-by the library for a tour!

Another group that participated in the Wayne County Mini Maker Faire is Schantz Makerspace, Inc.  It is a community of builders, tinkerers, and inventors working together to offer training opportunities, group build classes, and a chance to get to know other makers.

At this year’s faire, Schantz Makerspace will demonstrate tabletop CNC machines and 3-D printers.  They also offer training classes in Arduino, group-build classes, and software training.  Join a group of makers who meet, learn, collaborate, and make things.  Find-out more at www.schantzmakerspace.com.

Rounding out our makers who participated is the Ventrac Robot Club.  The club exposes children of employees at Ventrac ages 6-14 to robotics & programming.  Last year, faire attendees saw the kits they used including LEGO robotics, Arduino circuits, and coding in Minecraft on a Raspberry Pi.

Ventrac Robot Club is open to kids of employees at Venture Product Inc.  They meet every Monday night from January to March. This is their third year as a club and has 28 total kids.

If you would like to know more about the Orrville Public Library’s Memory Lab, the Schantz Makerspace, or the Ventrac Robot Club, please reply to this email.

The Call For Makers is now open for the 3rd annual Wayne County Mini Maker Faire!  Participation is free; You can apply with our online application here.  You can also apply via postal mail and telephone.  Number 3 is going to be bigger than ever for us as makers return to the Wayne College to fill the Student Life Building and landscape with incredible innovation and creativity. Remember, space is limited so you have to apply as soon as possible to ensure that you get your spot at the greatest show (& tell) on earth!  The deadline is April 1st!

Until next week,

Tom