Pivoting Maker Fairs to Virtual Fairs and Online Marketplaces While Supporting PPE Production

Virtually Maker Faire 2020

May 22nd-23rd

Katie is the curator and owner of The Midwest's largest Maker Fair, The Strawberry Swing Indie Craft Fair. Held each season (quarterly) with pop-ups in between, her festivals garner more than 20,000 attendees and create more than $2 million in sales for local makers. Due to Covid-19, Katie had to pivot, and pivot quickly as she had already planned for her annual Spring event. She quickly created an online marketplace to house the makers 24/7, including a special Masks KC are where local makers who were created PPE could list their masks and sell to the community and will host Kansas City's First Virtual Craft Fair May 30th and 31st featuring more than 115 makers, live music, food truck pop-ups throughout the city and DIY classes.