Maker Faire reinvents itself on Vallejo’s Mare Island

VALLEJO — Annual DIY convention Maker Faire will return to the San Francisco Bay Area after a hiatus since the last event in San Mateo in 2019 and for the first time will be held at the former Naval shipyard on Vallejo’s Mare Island.

Make Community Director of Marketing Gillian Mutti said that Maker Faire founder Dale Dougherty met with Mare Island Company representatives at the Coal Shed Brewery and fell in love with the industrial ambiance of the place. 

“It had lots of possibilities; indoor, outdoor areas. It's just kind of a little nitty-gritty like a Maker Faire is,” Mutti said. “We think it's a great place and a great venue. We're excited to try this out.”

Mutti said the Maker Movement is about empowering people to use creativity and innovation balanced with a sense of joy. “The maker community has always been very open sourced and open in general, and sharing their skills and technologies with each other,” she said.

Kathy O’Hare, the “chief cat herder” at Vallejo-based Obtainium Works, said, “Kids absolutely go crazy because there's so many hands-on things that they can do. They also can walk away with stuff that they've built and produced. It is really a great family event.”

The Make Community company made sure to reach out to Vallejo creatives. “We're really trying to lean into the local community, as well as source art and exhibits from there,” Mutti said. 

They commissioned Stan Clark of Astrobotanicals to make a giant inflatable robot based on their logo. The robot was present at the Maker Faire table at the September Art Walk.

Obtainium Works will have an art car parade and an interactive “Robot Rumble,” where kids can design and help build the robot bodies, and then drive the robots by remote control in a robot demolition derby.

The Flaming Lotus Girls, creators of the “Soma” interactive sculpture outside the John F. Kennedy Library, will have their sculpture “Serenity” on display. It features three giant flaming and LED-lit fireflies and many mini fireflies surrounding a central fire pit. 

Caroline “Mills” Miller of Flaming Lotus Girls lives in Vallejo and is a longtime Maker Faire participant. She has extensive experience with fire art at Burning Man and has been helping organize the event and talking with fire marshals about their safety protocols.

Mare Island Art Glass will hold glass blowing demonstrations and classes for both children and adults in the industrial zone.

Other highlights include Traveling Spectacular, a vaudeville-inspired show that features magic, comedy and circus feats, the Eepybird Diet Coke and Mentos geyser extravaganza, “Rock the Bike”, a people-powered stage, and the cupcake car creations of ACME Muffineering. 

An old staple returning to the Maker Faire is Kinetic Steam Works. They’ll bring steam engines, a hand-powered railroad car that attendees can pump down a 100-foot track, and an 117-year-old steam-powered printing press.

There will be 3D printing demonstrations, drones, electronics, upcycling, costume design and more. Visit the Meet the Makers page to see the full scope of offerings.

The festivities will take place over the next two weekends on the promenade next to the water in front of the coal shed buildings, and span from the historic core and ferry terminal to the south up to Building 271, a five-story glass warehouse to the north.

A stage will be set up by the old crane for live music and other demonstrations. The larger sculptures will be set up outdoors. Building 69, an old brick storehouse to the south of the coal sheds and Building 271, will house indoor events. The Coal Sheds will house cosplay and fashion the first weekend and robotics and technology during the second weekend.

Friday Oct. 13 and Friday Oct. 20 are set aside as preview and education days, when lighter attendance is expected and discounted tickets for school groups are available. “We do that as a way to give people who do not want crowds an opportunity to experience the faire, as well as to kind of let students take over the venue,” Mutti said. 

The event is scaled down from its previous footprint in San Mateo, but it’s big for Mare Island. The smaller size will be made up with more time — this new iteration of the event will be held over two weekends instead of one. Mutti said they expect between 50,000 to 70,000 total attendance over both weekends. She said the peak attendance in San Mateo was in 2016, with about 100,000 people over one weekend.

Shuttle buses will run between the venue and a parking lot on the north side of the island to ensure that there is enough parking for the number of tickets sold. Mutti said that at least two ferries will run between the mainland and the island in the morning and afternoon on weekends, and that they’re hoping to add more. The ferry schedule and a link to prepaid parking will be posted here. Parking is free on Fridays.

The first Maker Faire was held in 2006. Its parent company, Maker Media, sponsored and licensed festivals all around the world and published Make magazine.

Maker Media added new venture capital investors in 2014. But festival attendance declined after  2016 and the company struggled. The investors backed out shortly after the 2019 event, triggering a corporate restructuring.   Dougherty bought back the company’s assets, hired back some of the staff and continued to publish the magazine. It wasn’t immediately clear if the festivals could continue before the COVID-19 pandemic put that speculation on hold.

Miller said the festival became a little stale toward the end of its run in San Mateo. “It became much more like there were big booths where people were trying to sell 3D printers and things like that, instead of it being about makers and about people who make things,” she said.

Mutti was among the people who were laid off and rehired. She said that even before the pandemic, they were looking at ways to expand the event for more than just one weekend and to make it more hands-on and family friendly.

 “We're a much smaller company, and really kind of honed in on what we wanted to do from the start versus being pulled in a different direction by separate boards,” she said.

“For years we grew and grew, which was amazing and wonderful, but we felt like it became not the best experience for makers or for attendees, and we really wanted to use this time throughout the pandemic to kind of reflect on how we would change things,” Mutti said. “We kind of took a step back and thought, what would be a really good scope for the show, and we're very excited about it.”

Shannon O’Hare, the “fearless leader” of Obtainium Works said, “The possibility of this becoming an ongoing concern on the island, with Maker Faire to have this as their home base, would be absolutely fantastic.”