What Can You Make?

Inventors of all ages will display the fruits of their labors this weekend when The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI, hosts Maker Faire Detroit for the fifth year in a row.

The family-friendly festival of innovation is like a traveling circus, highlighting the works of local tinkerers at each stop. In 2013, 100 Maker Faires, including those held in Oslo, Tokyo and Paris, attracted 1.5 million people globally. San Mateo, CA, held the first Maker Faire in 2006.

Last year, 22,000 people attended Maker Faire Detroit. Attendance over the past four years has totaled 80,000.

The Henry Ford will host this year’s celebration of creativity and resourcefulness once again in parts of the museum and in the adjacent parking lot.

Some 400 makers (100 of them new) will be featured in Dearborn. Attendees will get to take part in the Official Nerdy Derby, see live demonstrations from Pewabic Pottery’s Education Studio and have a chance to build their own model truck with Construct a Truck USA.

Entertainers include Detroit’s Dear Darkness and Theatre Bizarre.

Other exhibitors and features include Ali Kermani, creator of the Razor Crazy Cart; the Hacker Gals of Kalamazoo; and the Shapeoko 3D Carving Machine.

A returning favorite attraction will be the LifeSize Mousetrap.

Lovers of electronic music will want to step inside The Henry Ford for “Close Encounters of the Synth Kind” in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the Moog synthesizer.

Herbert Deutsch, close collaborator on the first Moog synthesizer, author Dave Tompkins and U.K.-based artist-designer Paul Elliman will give multimedia lectures and performances while a group of modern-day makers demonstrate their own analog synthesizers.

Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 26 and 27. Tickets are $28 for adults (13-61), $19 for youth (5-12) and $26 for seniors (62+). Members of The Henry Ford and Maker Faire organization get in for half-price.

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