ANGELINA DOHRE
Special to the Leader
The first-ever Mini Maker Faire is being brought to the Fredonia campus on Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will be held in the Williams Center and the Science Center, with food trucks and several of the makers’ displayed work scattered in between the two buildings. It will be free and open to the public.
The main producers who brought this event to Fredonia are associate professor of chemistry Holly Lawson and the main team from Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES, Jen Osborne-Coy, Robert Spino and Erica Carlson.
So what exactly is a Mini Maker Faire?
“A lot of our signs say ‘It’s a circus of creativity,’ but to me, that sounds too organized,” Lawson said. “It’s really going to be a bunch of places in the Williams Center and Science Center where people can interact with makers.”
A maker can be anyone who has a passion in doing something. “A maker can be an artist, someone who does crafting, robotics, programming, and so on. Our makers are almost split into techy people and artists,” Lawson said. “The idea of the Maker Faire is not just to look at what the makers are doing, but to get involved yourself, so most of our makers have some way of engaging the people walking by.”
Anyone can sign up to be a maker. “I think our youngest maker we have featured is eight and our oldest is probably in the mid-80s or late 80s,” Osborne-Coy said. “Some makers are from Rochester, a couple are from Pennsylvania, a couple are from Cattaraugus County. They’re all from the region.”
But do not be deceived — this is not a craft show. “It’s truly hands-on learning. The majority of this whole event is experiencing what is called ‘make and take,’” Osborne-Coy said. “You go to a station, make something and take it away without a charge.”
One of the makers attending this faire is a 14-year-old chainsaw artist. “He will be demonstrating how he carves with the chainsaw, and he might be selling things, but you can see what he’s doing,” Osborne-Coy said.
Maker Faires are being held all around the world, and the idea of the Mini Maker Faire was brought to Fredonia after BOCES brought a seminar to the region in which teachers learned how to use hands-on learning in the classroom.
“As part of that discussion in the seminar, it became an outcome that we really should work at having a Maker’s Faire in our region,” Osborne-Coy said.
Lawson explained that BOCES had a great influence on bringing this faire to Fredonia.
“[BOCES] really made this happen. It’s a partnership, but they were really the driving force,” she said. “They also did a really wonderful job raising money so we wouldn’t have to charge an admission fee.”
Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES and Fredonia partnered with Make Magazine to help start this event. “We picked homecoming weekend because it is the high traffic, really exciting time on campus,” Osborne-Coy said. “We thought utilizing two buildings and connecting them with activities and food trucks would really draw people in and let them see what the college has to offer, but also let them experience making in a different space.”
Co-sponsors of this event are the University, Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES, Make:makezine.com, the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, Lumsden McCormick LLP, Dell and Kensington. The Fredonia College Foundation’s Phyllis and Lawrence Patrie Endowment for the Sciences also gave additional support.
Student volunteers are still needed for this event. “Right now, we’re looking for volunteers that can work two hour blocks, so they can still enjoy the fair but also help,” Lawson said. “We need help to set up Friday night and Saturday to unpack the makers and pack them back up again. We also need people during the day to float around and help promote all of the makers.”
To sign up as a volunteer, contact Joyce Smith of the Volunteer and Community Service Office in room S227 in the Williams Center, at (716) 673-3690 or Joyce.Smith@fredonia.edu.
“I feel that this [faire] is important, it’s something for students to do on campus, and it’s a way to give back to the community and help build sustainable community partnerships as well,” Smith said. “Student volunteers really are the difference.”