On Saturday September 27
th from 10:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m., the
Science Museum of Virginia played host to
RVA Makerfest, a gathering of scientists, artists, engineers, craftsman and more who were
all there to offer hands-on demonstrations. This isn’t just a craft show or shopping event
where you’re only seeing finished products; Makerfest strives to showcase
skills and focus more on the “how” to and “why” that goes into creating art,
various crafts, culinary treats, technological gadgets and more. And it was FREE!
I didn’t know what to expect as I was walking up to the
museum. Was this going to be mostly
technological stuff? Crafts? Big crafts like people building furniture? Unique specialized crafts that I didn’t even
know about? ROBOTS?! I was just excited to see what was
there. And before I even got inside the door
to the museum, the neat stuff started (big fan of the word “neat”, BTW).
They had one of the famous big “LOVE” signs set up in front
of the museum with a table next to it.
There were three volunteers at the table showing people how to assemble
their own little light from a battery, magnet and two wires attached to the
light. The long wire touches the
positive side of the battery, the little bulb lights, the magnet is taped onto
the back of the battery and then participants could stick their little bulb
anywhere they wanted on the LOVE sign.
Then that night after the sun was down, the sign would glow with
everyone’s multi colored hand-made devices.
I wish I had gotten to see it.
I’m still trying to find pictures of what it looked like (and see if I
can pinpoint my light – of course I chose red, ginger represent!).
Then after grabbing an informational pamphlet and a holder
for all the business cards I’d be picking up, my friend and I headed
inside. We were greeted by a frenzy of
activity. In the circle area around the
giant pendulum (that’s always in the museum) were people playing with little
robots or toys (same thing?), people demonstrating how to make paper flowers,
people making and playing with puppets and more.
We didn’t know where to start. Then we noticed the room off to the right
side was open so we moved in there. It
was even more hectic (and cramped) in there, so we figured just start at the
first table to our right and move our way around. The first table was Capital One’s coder
program (appropriately called “Coders”), which goes to middle schools and
teaches 7th graders how to write code. This is a pretty cool idea, right? “Developing future software engineers” is the
slogan. I hope this kind of thing is
being offered/happening more than I know.
And we got lots of free goodies! I walked away with a burlap string back
pack, a small notebook, a “smart wallet”
(which attaches to your phone and holds your ID, credit cards, etc.) and a
stylus.
The next table was for the magazine Rhome. They just wanted you to help them pick their
next cover from four options, and then you got to take more free goodies! Including an issue of Rhome and a “Best of
Richmond” recipe book/magazine.
The next table was for Tech Commons, which was being manned
by a guy named Neil. But the table was
also for something called The People’s Library, and the idea he explained to us
it definitely struck a chord with me.
This group goes around collecting discarded books, emptying out the
pages, recycling the paper into new pages, and then they put those pages back
in the book. People are then allowed to
write down their own stories. It’s a
collaborative effort/art project to create 100 handmade books in which
Richmonders can capture their personal histories. How cool is that?! For more information on that project (started
by Mark Strandquist), check out the
People's Library website. Tech Commons is a technology group that gets together once a month at the
Richmond Main Public Library to answer computer hardware and software
questions. They also host specials
technology classes for kids of all ages periodically. For more information on that, check out
TheRichmond Public Library website and contact them with any questions, or go to the
Coder Dojo Meetup group.
Next to that table, the whole corner of the room was taken
over for a demo area for a rather large robot. (What was it? Who made it?
Looked like teenagers in charge of it)
And who was controlling this robot?
Why children of course! So as I
was listening to Neil explain the Peoples’ Library, I would periodically here
gasps from the crowd behind me and turn around to see people jumping away from
being hit by the robot. Lol. That’s what
you get when you let teenagers monitor children playing with a giant metal toy.
The room also had another table for creating lights like the
one’s outside, except these were blue, came with a sticker, and you could wear
them by putting a magnet on the inside of your shirt or whatever. So many lights! They also had a table for drawing manga comic strips, a creepy robotic hand, and an iPhone that had been turned into a viewer for seeing a whole medieval scene inside big barcode that you scan (which I had a 7 YEAR OLD explaining to me lol).
Back inside the main area/entranceway to the museum, we kind
of breezed through. There was a lot
going on with a lot of people in front of most booths. There were people making puppets, paper
flowers, baked goods, and more. There
was a really cool furniture area (that I was so sure I couldn’t afford, I didn’t
even ask). And then there was PARTY BOT!
Which was basically a square on wheels that played music and lit up
under your fingers if you touched it. It
was so pointless and not that cool, but I loved it anyway lol. I got most excited about Mobelux, which is a
company that makes apps. I took their
information for when I’m done with my website, because I wanted it to be an app
in the first place.
Then we went downstairs and out back to the train tracks
behind the museum. This was the COOLEST
part Makerfest by far. There were glass
blowers, steamroller artists (yes, rolling an actual steamroller over a sheet
on top of a print), blacksmiths, woodworkers, clothing makers, food and more. I hung out there for awhile, just watching
everything. I was able to talk to people
from The Glass Spot about taking glass blowing classes, something I’ve wanted
to do for a long time. AND with a discount
J And my friend was able to convince our other
friend (who joined us late) to put together a bat box for her, which was pretty
cool.
DRONES (pretty sure I saw one crash, too)
Then I had to leave to go play basketball L I wanted to stay there
all day! I could’ve easily done so if I’d had the time. This was beyond educational. It offered entertainment, information and
opportunities. I'm so glad I made out with a few business cards (which I kept forgetting to grab).
I can’t wait until next
year’s, and I highly suggest checking it out if you haven’t been to one
yet. Find out more at the
RVA Makerfest Website.
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