Maker Faire Philadelphia: An Historic Pier Becomes a Launchpad
On Sunday, April 19th along the Delaware River, Cherry Street Pier transforms from a relic of Philadelphia’s industrial past into a living laboratory of the future. Hosting Maker Faire Philadelphia 2026 (now in its sixth year) the pier becomes a vivid expression of the city itself—layered and constantly reinventing. Similarly, Maker Faire Philadelphia doesn’t exist in isolation and reflects the city’s deeper identity and its diversity. Philadelphia has long been a place of firsts and fabrication, from early American industry to modern ed-tech and maker spaces. What distinguishes the city today is its grassroots creativity: Philadelphia’s maker culture remains deeply community-driven and on display at Maker Faire Philly, where participation matters as much as polish. In keeping with its desire to be a beacon for all, Maker Faire Philly is offering inclusive pricing: Choose Your Price for Tickets, $0 – $25.
Cherry Street Pier is more than a venue, it’s part of the story. Built into the shell of a century-old municipal shipping pier, the structure once supported Philadelphia’s maritime economy. Today, it operates as a year-round public space for artists, makers, and entrepreneurs. Indeed, there’s an evocative symmetry in hosting a festival of invention inside a repurposed pier. The building itself is a kind of prototype—an old system reimagined for new uses. This adaptive reuse mirrors a broader pattern across Philadelphia: a city that continuously converts industrial infrastructure into creative capital. Nearby, Race Street Pier—originally a bi-level shipping pier from the 19th century—has similarly been reborn as public space.
Hybrid Creativity, Radical Accessibility, Craft + Tech Reimagined
While the Faire spans dozens of disciplines, Philly’s 2026 makers are working across categories that capture its most innovative edge. Here’s a tasting menu, but check out the full array: MEET THE MAKERS What’s On: In one corner, small but ferocious machines slam, spin, and strategize in real time. Combat Robotics As Live Engineering! Biohacking, 3D printing, jewelry making, live glassblowing, education, craft magnets…get there and get busy!
Chompshop: Making Cardboard Magical
As a Goldsmith sponsor of Maker Faire Philadelphia 2026, ChompShop represents the Faire’s emphasis on hands-on, accessible innovation, especially for the next generation of makers. The Philadelphia-based startup, known for its kid-safe cardboard cutting tool, the ChompSaw, has its roots in the University of Pennsylvania design community and was built through years of prototyping and iteration. Their presence at the Faire goes beyond sponsorship: through interactive demos, they invite children and families to actively build, experiment, and think like designers. ChompShop reinforces the event’s core mission—lowering the barrier to entry for creativity and engineering—while embodying a broader shift in maker culture toward education-driven tools that turn curiosity into capability. They’ve teamed up with cardboard impresario Samuel J. Wilde who shows what you can really do with cardboard–and with a kid safe cutting tool, age doesn’t matter.
Maker Buoy is an open source buoy design that provides low-cost ocean data collection to researchers and educators. Visit the Maker Buoy booth to see how off-the-shelf hardware can travel around the world helping us better understand the ocean.
Evette is a fabricator and artist with a background in Software Engineering. After working in Machine Learning research and frontend development in the industry for many years, she transitioned to being an artist full time. She now creates whimsical machines and wearable art inspired by engineering concepts. Sculptures, instruments and 3D printed garments used by astronauts in training and popstars alike. Additionally, she works with brands like Elegoo, Rapsberry Pi and PCBway to bring fun science education to everyone especially young girls.
Why does Brett Houser make toys? Seeing toys that don’t exist. Making vehicles that can pose figures for those that cannot pose them themselves. Seeing representation of all kinds of figures. Make things that can be enjoyed by anyone. Make toys that allow people to explore and experience things in new ways. Make toys accessible. Make toys bespoke. And cram so many details into everything that whether it’s played with or sits on a shelf, every time you look at it you notice new details buried within. He says, “They call me HAL-2 cause I’ll show you HOW-TO build toys just like me.”
Andy Modla is an enthusiast 2D/3D photographer and retired software engineer exploring the intersection of the Arts, Technology, and Photography with cameras, computer devices and code. It turns out many 3D photographers are makers who build their own 3D camera rigs because there are few inexpensive commercial alternatives. You can find his open source projects can be found at Maker Faire Philly this weekend and GitHub.
Maker and musician David Berry creates some truly unusual instruments, including the mechanical/digital hybrid MIDI machine he’ll be bringing to the Cherry Street Pier on Sunday. Learn more about how he does it or get inspired to make your on GITHUB.
The Arcade Cabinet is a line of handcrafted, wall-mounted shelving units inspired by classical architectural arches. Designed to display books, objects, and collections, it features rhythmic arched openings and integrated warm LED backlighting for depth and atmosphere. After studying architecture, he missed working at a human scale. The Arcade Cabinet started as a way to take the language of buildings (arches, repetition, proportion) and reinterpret it as something you can live with every day.
And there’s so much more! Click the image below to head over to the Maker Faire Philly website to get all the details!
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