Portland Maker Faire

Having had a great experience at the Eugene Mini-Maker Faire, I was on the lookout for another opportunity. Several months ago I posted an application to be a Maker at the Portland Mini-Maker Faire and was accepted! They already had rocket people lined up, so they asked me to show Dawson Station, my Arduino controlled train.

The fair ran both Saturday and Sunday and featured more than one hundred displays. I had the train set up for kids to operate and a Raspberry Pi running Minecraft. My only complaint would be that we were so busy I didn't have much time to visit the other booths!



The highlight for me was meeting Laen from OSHPark, where I get my circuit boards made. He seemed genuinely interested in the projects I was using them for and I gave him one of my Joule Thiefs. He was also interested in the Teen Maker program I'm doing at the library and offered to donate some PCB manufacturing if we come up with a design to do!

Hope to be asked back next year, but I might have to up my game to ensure a spot!