Participants come from a wide variety of interests, such as robotics, 3D printing, computers, arts and crafts, and hacker culture.

[4] The Flagship Maker Faire (Bay Area) was held in San Mateo, California and a second is in New York City.

[5] A revived Bay Area Maker Faire started in October 2023 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California.

Highlights of the Faire included a human-sized Mouse Trap board game, kinetic squid sculpture, 55' wingspan kinetic steel butterfly, bicycle-powered music stage, a solar-powered chariot pulled by an Arnold Schwarzenegger robot,[13] and over 500 other booths from different makers.

[14][15] Featured guests included Adam Savage, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Lee David Zlotoff,[16] Tony Baxter and Eepybird.

Afrigadget, a website dedicated to African Ingenuity, was created by Erik Hersman in 2006[18] just a few months after Make Magazine and the first Maker Faire Africa took place in Ghana in 2009.

In 2011, Mini Maker Faires were held in Canada (Toronto, Vancouver), the United Kingdom (Brighton) and a number of cities in the USA: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; Bend, Oregon; Oakland, California; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Fishers, Indiana; Providence, Rhode Island; Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; Poulsbo, Washington, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Linthicum, Maryland; Westport, Connecticut; Louisville, Kentucky; and Urbana, Illinois.