LEWISTON — A festival for tinkerers, gadgeteers and techno-hobbyists will return to Museum L-A this year — a few weeks later on the calendar and a little bit bigger.

Rachel Desgrosseilliers, executive director of Museum L-A, said she has renewed the license for the Lewiston-Auburn Mini Maker Faire and confirmed it for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Bates Mill complex.

“It went way beyond what we had anticipated that first time,” Desgrosseilliers said. “People spent the whole day making things and learning about stuff, so that was great. And other people loved the acts. They said, ‘Rachel, this is big-city stuff.’ It was an eye-opener for a lot of people.”

A Maker Faire is a convention and show for amateur technophiles, hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers. It brings inventors, craft makers and science buffs together to show off their projects and have fun with interactive displays, games and demonstrations.

“We are expecting a lot more people this year — both in the makers and the people just attending to participate,” she said. 

The events are supported by MAKE Magazine and O’Reilly Media and includes huge fairs around the world, including Detroit, Boston, New York and London.

They also support smaller “mini” fairs, designed for between 300 and 6,000 attendees. That’s the variety that the museum will be hosting.

Museum L-A hosted a small Mini Maker Faire in early September last year, with 20 people or groups presenting displays. They included high school robot makers, crafters, weavers and Maine’s EepyBird — Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz of Buckfield. The pair gained international fame in 2006 with their Diet Coke and Mentos experiments.

Desgrosseilliers said she expects to bring in more makers this year and has registered to host a medium-sized Mini Maker Faire, with as many as 40 presenters.

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