Make:

Congrats to our entire team for the 2006 Maker Faire and to all our Makers, attendees and everyone else who made it a great first event for us last year!

Make magazine's Maker Faire won the gold for "BEST SPECIAL EVENT" as the second-ever FOLIO FAME awards were given out today at the Magazine Event Strategies Conference in New York City. The FAME awards recognize the magazines that have created the industry's most innovative, revenue-generating and brand-building events over the past year.

Attracting more than 20,000 weekend attendees to the San Mateo Fairgrounds in San Mateo, CA, Maker Faire was a two-day event celebrating DIY invention and discovery. From a giant electronic giraffe to steam-powered robots, bikes made of driftwood, helium bubbles, a giant clothing swap, and even a nighttime fire show--Maker Faire had something for everyone.

"Maker Faire was a family-friendly event, reaching attendees of all ages and demographics. For a first-year program to attract that many people from outside the magazine's readership base was very impressive," explained Linda Zebian, Associate Editor, Folio:, Magazine Event Strategies.

This year, Maker Faire will return to the San Mateo Fairgrounds, May 19 & 20, and will also expand to Austin, TX, for another two-day event, October 20 & 21 at the Travis County Fairgrounds. "Maker Faire is about inspiring people to share their ideas, to think of new ones, to see the world and our surroundings in a different way--and more than anything, to have fun in the process! And to that end, we couldn't have been more successful," said Dale Dougherty, Publisher & Editor, Make magazine.

Related:

• Maker Faire 2007! - Link.
• Get tickets now for 2007 and save up to $5 off - Link.

We're still looking for some Maker-friendly sponsors to make the Maker Faire bigger and better, email us.