If you haven't been to a Maker Faire yet, you're missing out

Troy WolvertonMake Magazine hosted the 12th annual Bay Area Maker Faire this past weekend, drawing in more than one hundred thousand visitors.

The event is a celebration of "makers" of all sorts and kinds. Visitors could see 3-D printers in action, watch competitive drone races, learn how to solder, see fire-belching hand-made iron sculptures, find out how to keep bees or pickle vegetables, and sew their own clothes from scrap cloth.

Begun as a relatively small affair, Maker Faire has become a huge and global phenomenon. Some 125,000 people attended this year's Bay Area event, which was held over three days, according to Sherry Huss, Maker Faire's co-founder. Last year, there were 191 maker faires in 38 countries that attracted some 1.4 million people, Huss said.

Even after all this time, Maker Faire "still tends to be one of those amazing things that we've created, she said.