Maker Faire Kansas City Expected To Draw Over 15,000 This Weekend

This weekend, June 23rd and 24th, more than 18,000 guests will converge at Union Station to get a glimpse of the future and leave inspired by the hundreds of creative minds that "make" Maker Faire 2018.

Maker Faire -- Union Station's largest annual festival -- is a two-day event that brings together fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and love sharing what they do. It's a venue for anyone who makes anything. Makers come to show their creations and share their learnings. Engineers, seniors, artists, students, scientists, inventors and more gather to show off their hobbies, experiments, products and inventions. Attendees flock to Maker Faire to glimpse the future and find the inspiration to become Makers themselves. Simply described, it's the Greatest Show (& Tell) on Earth - a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness.

"From performances, to workshops, to presentations, and even shopping, Maker Faire presents what happens when people collaborate and think outside the box," Tammy Ruder, Maker Faire producer, said. "We will have community art projects, vendors, exhibitors, interactive workshops, demonstrations, filling inside and outside Union Station as well as Science City and the new Haverty Family Yards. Guests of every age will learn, network, shop, get hands-on and likely walk away with inspired enthusiasm and a new passion."

Here is a partial list of features and activities you can expect at Make Fair 2018:

NEW! Science in the Movies Spectacular - discover the science behind cinema with high-fall bags, burning cars and movie weather

NEW! Game of Fire - an interactive carnival-style fire art installation

New! WEGO Midwest Car Tour - with lowriders

Strawberry Swing - pop-up craft fair featuring over 75 local indie vendors

KCPT Kidszone - includes cardboard playground and Maker Activity Stations

Liquid Nitrogen Demo - experience the power properties of liquid nitrogen

Power Wheels Power Racing Series

Bouncy Balls Workshop - learn how to make bouncy balls out of household items

Re-Purposed Plastics - use your imagination to create something fun out of trash

Learn to Solder - learn this fundamental skill used when working with electronics
"Union Station is dedicated to innovation and imagination and no one event exemplifies that more vividly than Maker Faire," George Guastello, president and CEO of Union Station, said. "While it's a wildly entertaining spectacle, Maker Faire lights a spark that transforms consumers into creators. It's that creative spark that has made Kansas City a community of innovators and entrepreneurs. We are proud to host the next generation of creative minds that will drive the Kansas City economy into the future. In total, Maker Faire is wildly creative, totally unexpected and fun for the whole family. It's just that good!"

Maker Faire runs Saturday from 10 AM to 6 PM and Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM. Single day tickets are $17 for adults and $14 for children ages 3-12. Special family and multi-day pricing is also available. Tickets include access to internationally awarded, Science City and the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium. Please visit KansasCity.MakerFaire.com for more details and to purchase tickets. Maker Faire wishes to thank the following sponsors who make the event possible: Union Station Kansas City, Makezine.com, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Army ROTC.

Union Station Kansas City -- a 501(c)3 non-profit organization -- is a 104-year-old historical landmark and celebrated civic asset renovated and reopened to the public in 1999. Recently awarded "Favorite Attraction", "Favorite Family-Friendly Attraction" and "Favorite Historic Attraction", the organization -- dedicated to science education, celebration of community and preservation of history -- is home to Kansas City's internationally-awarded Science City; the new Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium; the Regnier Extreme Screen Theatre; the popular Model Railroad Experience; H&R Block City Stage featuring live theater, and a selection of unique shops and restaurants. Union Station is also home to prominent area civic organizations and businesses, and regularly hosts world-class traveling exhibitions. Awarded "Top Banquet Facilities in KC" by KC Business Journal, the facility annually hosts hundreds of community events and private celebrations of all sizes. Visit WWW.UNIONSTATION.ORG for details. Also, follow us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, and YOUTUBE.

Maker Faire is the greatest show (and tell) on Earth - a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker Movement. It's a place where people show what they are making and then share what they are learning. Makers range from tech enthusiasts to crafters to homesteaders to scientists to garage tinkerers. They are of all ages and backgrounds. The aim of Maker Faire is to entertain, inform, connect and grow this community. The original Maker Faire event was held in San Mateo, CA and in 2016 celebrated its eleventh annual show with some 1300 makers and 150,000 people in attendance. World Maker Faire New York, the other flagship event, has grown in five years to 900+ makers and 95,000 attendees. Forty larger scale Maker Faires occur in cities around the world - Detroit, Atlanta, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and Shenzhen to name a few - and over 150 community-driven, independently organized Mini Maker Faires are now being produced in the united states and in 37 other countries around the world.

Make: is the first magazine devoted entirely to Do-It-Yourself (DIY) technology projects. Make: unites, inspires, informs, and entertains a growing community of resourceful people who undertake amazing projects in their backyards, basements, and garages. Make: celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your will. Download a free issue Here.Besides the magazine and the faire, Make: is: a vital online stream of news and projects, blog.makezine.com; a retail outlet for kits and books, the Maker Shed; a steady stream of fun and instruction via our YouTube channel; Make: Projects, a library of projects with step-by-step instruction; a publisher of best-in-category titles via Make: Books, including introductions to electronics, Raspberry Pi, 3D

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