This coming weekend, one of our favorite annual festivals, World Maker Faire New York, returns for its fifth annual edition at Queens' New York Hall of Science. This massive celebration of creativity and innovation was launched in San Mateo, California in 2006 by Make magazine and has since expanded to numerous cities, including ours. It is, in a word, incredible. Lots of other adjectives come to mind, too, like outrageous, over-the-top, thought-provoking, enriching and (unfortunately for me) indescribable. It's very hard to explain why World Maker Faire is so cool—hopefully the photos in our slide show give you an idea of what a unique experience it is.
Organized into five themed Zones, Maker Faire overflows with more than 700 makers, crafters, tinkerers, hackers, techies, thinkers and artisans proudly showing off their wacky robots, homemade needlework, 3D-printed products, music-making gizmos and zillions of other wild things. There are also hands-on activities for all ages, and live entertainment like the Coke Zero & Mentos Fountains and a life-size recreation of the board game Mouse Trap.
While Maker Faire's counterculture, do-it-yourself spirit seems to get a little more commercial every year (it's now presented by Disney), don't worry: We've gone through the program and there will still be plenty of super-offbeat stuff. Be sure to wander around: At Maker Faire there's something cool waiting to be discovered around every corner.
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