Fire at the Makerspace

by Karen · Published September 15, 2024 · Updated November 20, 2024

In the early hours of Sunday, September 15, a fire ravaged our community workshop. The damage is extensive, and the loss is more than we can fathom. We are truly, simply, heartbroken.

Over the years, we’ve played host to local summer youth STEM camps and Saturday Market startups, we’ve participated in Punkin’ Chunkin’ contests, launched near-space balloons, helped spur fighting robots to victory, and more. We’ve been your one stop shop for fixing a broken weld, making a last minute gift, 3D printing a lost part, and so much more. Whether it was building a van into an RV, building a bike trailer out of scrap, making something for a school project, or servings as a workshop for the local girl scout troop’s project, we were here for you.

For your art, for your cosplay, for your music and madness, for science, or for just screwing around.

We’ve made it our mission to provide that creative space for our community, free of charge, with regular public-access events. From our regular “Open Hack” nights, where anyone from the community could come ask questions or work on a project, to those parking lot swap-meets and BBQs, morning breakfast get togethers, ‘learn to use’ classes for vinyl cutters, 3D printers, and CNC machines, to bringing our own brand of scrappy madness to local events. (Who brings an arcade machine to a fantasy faire in the park? EMS!)

That was the dream that spawned The Eugene Makerspace: A place where engineers & artists, draftsmen and dreamers can come together and bring their projects to life.

And we built that place! Together!.. And in spite of everything, we kept that dream alive. Through hardships and loss, through economic ups and downs, through the Covid shutdowns too.

Today, that place is gone. But a makerspace isn’t just a place, or a building, or a pile of tools. It’s a community of creators and creatives who come together to find solutions to complex problems. Without the makers, it’s just a space.

We don’t want our story to end here. We think that our community needs a place like EMS. We’ve never been perfect, but we never tried to be. But when you needed to cut a board, or modify a shelf, we were here for you.

Now is the time we have to ask: Can you be here, for us?