Recent and related:

Maker Faire Bay Area Returns - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36702405 - July 2023 (63 comments)

IMO this should not have been removed. The early bird sale ends today and there's clearly a lot of interest in the bay area. The website is more clear about what to expect than it was a couple of months ago when that post was submitted.

I appreciate that it's probably a really cool event but event announcements are pretty much always off topic on HN. It's not a critcism! it's just that frontpage space is the scarcest resource that exists here (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...) and we're trying to optimize for something different (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...).

Reposting my comment from when this first got announced. I am a bit hesitant about Maker Faire's return given how its last run ended...

Maker Faire has a really special place in my heart. In 2011 I ran the iFixit booth where we not only ran phone repair workshops, but we also did a teardown of a car...live. A volunteer was kind enough to lend us his VW Golf, which he was also going to need to drive to work the following Monday. We were the last exhibitors out as it took us until around 2AM on Monday morning to get the whole thing back together and drive it out. We got two Editor's Choice awards and the Education award that year. One of the best weekends of my life.

Sadly, we never got to do anything like that again. Over the next couple years, large corporate sponsors started taking up more and more space until most of the main hall was just a bunch of ads. We were never able to get a space to do anything like that ever again. I really hope that the return of Maker Faire is also the return of makers at Maker Faire.

Is there a less commercial alternative?

Getting people to go to Mare Island will be tough.

Ah yeah. I love maker faire but I don’t think I can stomach the 2 hour trip (and then back) to get there.

Hope everyone has a great time tho, and if it goes well maybe they can bring it to the peninsula in the future

It's 1h15m from where I am, waaay back in the corner of San Jose. Most of the bay area is closer, so this should be the upper bound unless you drive really slowly

Google says 1.25 to 2 hours from mid-peninsula. I'm inclined to believe the larger number based on past trips to Berkeley and Walnut Creek.

Heh, is this the latter case I mentioned? I usually beat google map's estimate (1h15m) by 5-10 minutes on similar trips and only exceed it once it once in a while when there's major accident that I can't route around.

If you happen to be in SF, the Vallejo/Mare Island ferry should be a relatively convenient (and scenic) public transit option.

It says "Ferry schedule coming soon!" https://makerfaire.com/bay-area/getting-to-makerfaire/ It doesn't work with the regular schedule. It's only a month and a half away, and it seems like they should have a schedule by now. I don't have high expectations, but who knows...

For sure, why did they give up on the San Mateo Fair Grounds?

They're downsizing. "This venue is smaller in size than the San Mateo Fairgrounds, where we've previously held Maker Faire Bay Area. It will limit the number of makers exhibiting as well as the number of attendees per day."[1]

[1] https://boingboing.net/2023/07/12/maker-faire-is-headed-back...

To all Bay Area parents, grab tickets today: it’s the last day for early bird pricing. I’ve taken my kids to multiple Bay Area Maker Faires over the years and we always came away happy.

im so glad maker faire is coming back. i got my first job there in high school and pushed me into getting into robotics and ee early on.

I'll be there on Oct 14. Posting this here because early bird pricing ends tonight

A dark pattern right as you open the page? Thanks but no thanks.

Anybody got any promo codes....?