For those of us with an interest in hacking and making, events where we can meet up with like minded folks and check out the projects they’re working on don’t exactly happen every day. Unless you’re able to travel around the country (or even better, the world), you usually have to make do with the handful of annual events that are within a reasonable distance of your home. If you’re lucky that may give you two or three opportunities during the year to look forward to, generally spaced out enough that you’ve got adequate time to prepare ahead of the event and decompress afterwards.
But occasionally, the planets and geekdoms align. Such was the case this past weekend in the Northeastern United States, with Vintage Computer Festival East and the Philadelphia Maker Faire taking place simultaneously. Both are established must-see events for their respective communities and cover roughly the same geographical area, so if you happened to have a foot in each camp, this presented quite a difficult decision.
That is unless you took the third option. As the Philly Maker Faire was on Sunday and VCF took place over the span of the whole weekend, there was a narrow path to attend both events. It wouldn’t be ideal, of course. For one thing it would mean speed running VCF East, and there was a couple hundred miles of travel to contend with. We won’t even talk about the physical toll incurred — while there doesn’t appear to be any official dosage recommendation from the Surgeon General, surely this level of exposure to non-conforming technologists carries with it some risks.
But sometimes such sacrifices must be made, especially if you’re being paid to make them. So I packed up twice the normal number of Wrencher stickers, and hit the road in an effort to deliver a condensed version of my experience at these two fantastic events.
Vintage Computer Festival
Regular Hackaday readers may know that we’ve been covering VCF East for several years now, and seeing its growth first-hand during that time has been absolutely staggering. The event has gone from taking up a couple rooms in the sprawling InfoAge Science & History Museum complex to being distributed among several different buildings on the campus. This year it seemed like exhibitors were packed into every available space within the former Camp Evans Army research base, and even with the signs dotted around, navigating the show took a bit of effort.
For those looking to add some new toys to their collection, the consignment area has also been expanded considerably. What was once just a few folding tables covered with dusty old hardware has now turned into a major component of the show that takes up nearly as much floor space as the exhibits. But fair warning, in many cases the price tags have grown as well. While there were still deals to be had, some items were sporting labels with four figures on them.
Given the size of InfoAge, I wouldn’t have thought it possible for VCF to outgrow the venue, but part of me thinks they’re getting very close. Although more buildings on the campus are being renovated and opened to the public each year, there’s still a limit to how much the organizers will be able to pack into the available space. Moving some of the exhibits outdoors would help, but of course that introduces its own problems. Renting some tents would be easy enough, but it wouldn’t be much of a computer festival if exhibitors couldn’t power up their machines.
But even in the unlikely event that it stops growing, I can tell you with absolute certainty that one day simply isn’t enough time to see everything VCF East has to offer. Even if you don’t mind skipping all of the talks and don’t want to buy anything, there’s just not enough time to actually give all the exhibits the attention they deserve, especially if it’s your first time.
Philly Maker Faire
Although it hasn’t grown to the scale of VCF East, the Philadelphia Maker Faire has also been getting bigger and better with each passing year. The venue was once again the Cherry Street Pier, although this year some of the exhibits had to be moved outside in order to fit them all. The weather wasn’t ideal, but the organizers thought ahead — there were umbrellas available for use, and most of the outdoor activities were at least under some form of cover.
Compared to VCF, the Maker Faire attracts individuals with a wider array of interests. There was no shortage of high-tech hardware on display, including a lively combat robotics competition that ran throughout the day, but it was joined by artistic projects and local food vendors. There were attractions for attendees of all ages, with several activities specifically put together for young children. Where else can you fly a kite, drive a scale model of the Curiosity Mars rover, and sample local honey all under the same roof? Although there were certainly a few children at VCF East, there’s no question that the Maker Faire was the more family-friendly of the two events.
Much of what I saw at the Faire was new, but naturally some of the exhibitors from last year returned. Brett Houser was back with his incredible Wasteworld Toys, and unsurprisingly there was a sizable crowd around the table for most of the day. The ChompSaw area was similarly busy, and representatives from local groups such as Hive76 and Philly Mesh were eager to share their obsessions.
Getting on the Same Page
Although the two events were very different, there was undeniably some overlap in the attendees. On Sunday I actually saw a number of individuals at the Maker Faire that I recognized from VCF a day earlier. While everyone I spoke to was happy they could swing the back-to-back shows, they also were a bit disappointed that it meant cutting their time at VCF short.
Of course, neither group intended to step on each other’s toes. It was a simple matter of discovery — by the time the organizers of the two events realized there was going to be a date conflict, things were already set in motion and there was no time to make adjustments. Now that the lines of communication are open between the two groups, they should be able to avoid similar problems going forward.
Moreover, there’s a desire by those involved to expand the cooperation between such events in the tri-state area. Representatives from JawnCon, a growing Philadelphia hacker con that we’ve had the opportunity to follow these last few years, were in attendance at the Faire to raise awareness about their own event in October. The hacker and maker communities are stronger when they work together, and I’d love to see more of these crossovers in the future.