[mceachen]

This is such an epic, annual celebration of learning and creativity. Losing it would be a tragedy.

How do the economics not work out here? 100-150K visitors/year, each dropping (on average? $20 for entrance ticket)?

Don't they require commercial presenters to pay for their space?

How much does it cost to rent the San Mateo Fairgrounds?

[mdorazio]

I can't find any info on how much the event space actually costs, but based a few tidbits from the article it sounds more like the organization that runs the faire let expenses get out of control. If they laid off 8-10 people, that means they had significantly more than that, all of whom were ostensibly drawing a salary on top of likely increasing event space costs.

[applecrazy]

There’s actually tons of other costs besides renting the space. Many exhibits require large amounts of electricity and space. Not every exhibitor can fit within a small booth. Not to mention liability insurance, since some exhibits have things like fire.

As a exhibitor myself, I've seen how the event has changed over the past few years, and the loss of sponsors such as Intel have definitely hit them. I just hope the event can continue, it's really the highlight of the school year for me and my peers.

[runamok]

The tickets are pricier than that. $25 for students and $40 adults... https://makerfaire.com/bay-area/BUY-TICKETS/

[mceachen]

Right. I was assuming many of the 150k visitors are there as presenters or have some sort of ticket discount. Either way, that's not chump change.