• Main Street Enid Maker Trail
  • First Friday Downtown Enid
  • First Friday Downtown Enid
  • First Friday Downtown Enid
  • First Friday Downtown Enid
project leader
Kelly T
location
217 N Washington
(Downtown Enid)
latest update rss
Why GEFCO supports the Maker Trail

the project

Learning through discovery gives us the problem-solving experience necessary to be creative and innovative thinkers. The maker movement, including makerspaces and maker faires across the world, involves independent inventors, designers, artisans and tinkerers creating and sharing.

After being one of 10 projects chosen nationally, we are taking the maker concept and creating a Maker Trail with opportunities to explore, create and discover at various maker stations around downtown Enid during First Friday.

Funds for the Maker Trail project will go toward a variety of tools, kits, instruction books, electronic components and other materials needed. We will also build a giant geodesic dome to bring

attention to making large structures with common materials.

The Maker Trail will create an additional draw for our First Friday events, bring more attention to the district, make more connections between businesses and residents, provide a bonding experience for multiple generations, jumpstart imaginations, and encourage creative learning through discovering and making.

Stations on the Maker Trail:

  • Art Station
  • Circuit Station
  • Music Station
  • Physics Station
  • Robotics Station
  • Straw Dome Station

the steps

  • Order maker station materials and supplies
  • Test the station projects
  • Design promotional materials & banners
  • Social media promotion - facebook, instagram, twitter
  • Add to First Friday promotion
  • Create promotional teaser video
  • Prep and organize the materials for each station
  • Train the volunteers
  • Create and promote maps of the maker trail
  • Log number of participants and provide surveys
  • Post photos and video of event
  • Note feedback for interest in continued maker opportunities

why we're doing it

We want to inspire creative and innovative thinkers during our First Friday events, draw more people to our historic downtown, encourage them to learn and discover around the square, and gauge the interest in a possible future makerspace or maker faire.

budget

Disbursed Budget
Raised = $5,230.00
less ioby Platform Fee $35.00
less ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $151.31
Total to disburse = $5,043.69
$3,000 - supplies and materials to be used in activities at 6 maker
stations around the square
$800 - purchase and rental of canopies, tables, chairs, etc., to set
up the stations
$543.69 - toward large build project
$300 - banners to identify Maker Trail stations
$400 - paid social media, print and promotions

Original Budget

$3,000 - supplies and materials to be used in activities at 6 maker stations around the square

$800 - purchase and rental of canopies, tables, chairs, etc., to set up the stations

$3,000 - large build project during October First Friday

$300 - banners to identify Maker Trail stations

$400 - paid social media, print and promotions

$7,500 = Subtotal

$35 - ioby Platform Fee

$225 - Donation Processing Fee of 3% 

$7,760 = Total to raise

updates

Why GEFCO supports the Maker Trail

Posted 09/01/2017 - 9:56am

"As a manufacturing company, GEFCO realizes the importance of educating our community to invest in our future.  Main Street Enid's Maker Trail Project is a great opportunity for our company to give back to the community.  Our manufacturing plant employs skilled workers that specialize in welding, machining, designing, fabricating, assembling and engineering.  We are hopeful that this project will showcase maker skills and remind the community that these skills are continually needed right here in Enid."
~ GEFCO, Inc.

Thank you to ALL donors and sponsors!
 

Why Corbin & Merz Architects supports the Maker Trail

Posted 08/22/2017 - 10:33am

"At Corbin & Merz Architects, we are all about MAKING. From brick and mortar to shaping urban spaces, we strive to MAKE our built environment pleasant and habitable. With over 40 years of experience, and located right here, in Downtown Enid, we are your local, friendly, neighborhood architects. Stop by and say hello!



We are proud to support the wonderful Enid tradition of creativity and innovation through the Maker Trail project organized by Main Street Enid."

~ Corbin & Merz

THANK YOU to ALL donors and sponsors!

Why Envirotech is sponsoring the Maker Trail

Posted 08/15/2017 - 11:20am

"At Envirotech we encourage our employees to be innovative and imaginative when solving our client's problems.  Those skills are difficult to teach in a classroom and best developed through experimentation. Yeah, we are the people that take things apart just to see how they work. We are very supportive of the Maker Trail where you can imagine, build and learn!"

Jimmy Stallings
President – Envirotech Engineering and Consulting, Inc.

THANK YOU to all donors, sponsors and volunteers of the Maker Trail!

Why Friesen Design is Sponsoring the Maker Trail

Posted 07/27/2017 - 8:54am

"Growing up as a young boy in Enid, I was fascinated with making things.  In fact, my brother and I had a bag we named the "Making Bag" which we used  to collect all sorts of odd and ends from around our house. It might be a used plastic bottle, a small box, a scrap of fabric, or some left-over parts from something that broke.  It didn't matter....they all went into the bag.  Why?  Because we were "makers."  We dreamed up and created all kinds of interesting inventions from games, to machines, to weapons (we were two boys after all). Most of the time, these things were held together by duct tape and glue, so they didn't last long. But by using our imaginations we developed a set of skills that would last--and in fact surfaced up front and center in our occupations.  



Fast forward 40 years and my brother Kurt is an experienced landscape architect—using his eye for detail and his spatial design skills to fashion beautiful outdoor spaces for people to enjoy. And me? I have spent nearly 25 years as a professional designer creating products, packaging, and printed pieces for a variety of businesses and organizations. Main Street Enid's Maker Trail project is a vital, incredible opportunity for our community!  Our children need to experience the joy of imagining something and then making it actually come to life with their own hands.  I urge you to support this worthy endeavor. It's an investment that could last a lifetime."

~ Kevin Friesen, President / Designer of Friesen Design

Thank you for being a Friend Sponsor of the Maker Trail - and thank you to everyone who has donated!

Why Ben Ezzell supports the Maker Trail

Posted 07/27/2017 - 8:52am

"There has never been a better time to pick up a new skill and learn to make something with your hands. Between Instructables, YouTube, and Amazon you can find directions, examples, plans, and parts to make almost anything you can imagine. The enormous online “maker” community is full of people willing to share their skills. With a little time and minimal investment, anyone can learn to code an arduino, or weld a sculpture, or build a desk, or sew a costume, or anything else!

 

It is an exciting time to be making things, and with the Maker Trail stations we hope to share our enthusiasm and demonstrate to the Enid community just how accessible this world really is."

 

~ Ben Ezzell, Attorney, City Commissioner and lifelong Maker

Thank you to NWOAR!

Posted 07/24/2017 - 6:59pm

THANK YOU to the Northwest Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® for being an Apprentice Sponsor, volunteering and getting several realtors, appraisers, lenders and builders to donate individually also!

"We are sponsoring and volunteering at the Maker Trail to contribute to fun community activities that inspire learning in areas involved in building houses and making homes." ~ Carolyn House, NWOAR Association Executive

We appreciate everyone's support on this project!

Thank you to ERDA!

Posted 07/17/2017 - 7:52am

THANK YOU to the Enid Regional Development Alliance for being an Apprentice Sponsor of the Maker Trail!

"The workforce of tomorrow requires the hands-on, problem solving, creative skills that are learned through making things. The Main Street Enid Maker Trail will provide the chance to exercise critical thinking skills as participants "tinker" at each of these interactive stations." ~ Lisa Powell, ERDA Associate Director

Contact Main Street Enid for business sponsorship information.

EVERY donation counts and we thank you for each one!

photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • Taylor Skouby
  • Conrady Electric
  • #1 Ravenclaw 4evR
  • Anonymous
  • Christopher Sneed
  • Starr A Adams-Prince
  • Mandy Bergdall
  • The Nafi
  • Anonymous
  • The Felt Bird
  • John and Kingkini Arend
  • Josh&Wendy Frazee
  • Cheri and David Ezzell
  • Anonymous
  • Ben Ezzell
  • PATSY SPRAY
  • Lisa M.
  • Patty Probasco
  • PrimeLending - Enid
  • NW OK REALTORS
  • Anonymous
  • David R.
  • Anonymous
  • NWOAR AE
  • Appraiser
  • Chelsi Shipley
  • Ethany Uttech
  • Enid Regional Development Alliance, Inc.
  • Whitney Hall
  • Roxanna
  • romy owens
  • Kelly T