Southwest Maker Fest wrap up

So Southwest Maker Fest turned out to be eclectic and awesome. They had a street (or maybe it was two) in downtown Mesa blocked off for a live music stage and a whole variety of booths. In a matter of minutes, you could stroll by an open-source car, handmade flutes, geeks with 3D printers running, and an overalled man showing people how to weld.

There were presentations and demonstrations going on throughout the day at nearby venues. I gave my travel journal talk at an art gallery/event space.

Afterwards, I went to help out at the Gangplank booth for a bit. (Yep, I was one of the geeks at one of the 3D-printer-equipped booths.) I did my best to answer people’s questions about the collaborative workspace – but there’s really more going on there than I can keep up with.

By the time I was done there, I was so tired and hungry. Phillip and I took a quick tour of the booths on our way out, but we weren’t able to engage as much as we would’ve liked.

I’ll have to learn to weld another day.

All in all, it was a good start for Southwest Maker Fest and great to see a sampling of Phoenix’s diverse maker community come out of the woodwork and get together. I’m looking forward to the next event.

If you weren’t able to be there this year, you can get on the list to be notified about next year’s event. I’ll also be presenting about travel journals again at Craft Hack in May (watch the Facebook page or sign up for the Travelcraft Journal newsletter for details).

Photo of my talk by Trish Gillam.