Exhibition at the 2025 Philly Maker Faire, held again at the Cherry Street Pier. The event was accented by a fire that erupted on the other side of the wall from where we were exhibiting. Having been provided a breakdown of the fire plan for the event so that I could demonstrate my little FIRETRUCK, my initial worry was that it was a neighboring building along the pier that had caught fire, as that would likely mean complete closure for any structural concerns subject to inspections and that our receipt of the exhibits unlikely that day. Luckily (for us), it was just a boat parked on the dock directly opposite our building’s wall. No one was injured. Kudos to the event staff for conducting a calm and orderly evacuation of the building, as we passed a 30-foot flame that was clearly visible, kissing the outside of the windows under the warehouse’s rafters, the only source of natural lighting now shaded by the plumes of black smoke. It was certainly surreal. In a place of spectacles and wonders on display, a very natural thing like fire feels less dangerous than it really is. Felt sort of like “cool science project, let’s take a selfie” rather than “run for your life” when seeing it. And nowhere else but at a Makers’ Faire would you be evacuated for a fire event, only to return into the building and already have stickers printed, cut, and ready for distribution, saying “I survived the Philly Maker Faire Fire.”
As always, traveled with Joe Kopena of Rocketship Games. Loaded up at his place with rockets, drove to my place to pick up toys, and together, we are Games & Toys, Rocketships in Wasteworlds. Then, the event began. I was well-packed for the event, prepared for everything, but always struggle to get up to speed with the demonstrations. Often over eager to let people just play with my toys, I was a bit more reserved with doing that so I could maintain their use throughout the day.
It’s possible I may have been too cautious, not having enough toys on hand for people to play with or experience, but my need to have additional transmitters, extra FPV headsets, and generally more multi-user devices is hard to legitimize for other people to use when I only do one or two events like this a year. And travelling with them is also difficult. Of all the things I pack to travel, I believe the cheap FPV goggles and the nice transmitters have the most unused volume to them; and the transmitters are particularly finnicky with their odd shapes. But, the point of my exhibiting is to have people play with the toys. So I’ll have to reconsider my stance on this and hopefully come more prepared to the next event I go to.
Speaking of, there is a toy convention thing in August that I hope to attend. It’s a platform for people to begin selling their toys, so there is a steep—for me—registration fee. I’ll see what I can come up with then post any updates here (for likely no one to read, but that’s the nature of what I do).