At the Keeping Digital Foundation, York CoderDojo and York MakerFest, we have always been dedicated to keeping volunteers and attendees safe.

York MakerFest is a free event for people who want to try out new activities and find new hobbies, all in support of STEM (particularly in young people). It’s hosted at the amazing National STEM Centre in York and has plans to be the largest MakerFest in the country.

In 2020, the event was cancelled due to the severity of the Coronavirus pandemic, and weeks after the country entered the first national lockdown.

With great regret, we must now cancel the 2021 event, which is a huge blow to the organisation and not a decision we’d take lightly.

The uncertainty around Coronavirus is too high, and therefore it would not only be a challenge to run an event, but a bigger challenge to plan it with businesses having to make a decision on whether to attend, especially when they are all working to keep their employees safe.

The events industry has been hugely hit, with our type of events being ‘banned’ for nearly a year. Our organisation has instead relocated resources towards supporting the NHS, other local charities, and York Pi Jam in their remote digital making work.

The vaccine rollout (especially in York) is looking positive, and gives us huge hope for the future. In spite of our best efforts to move York MakerFest to later 2021, the unpredictability around local and national restrictions is just too great.

A huge thank you to our volunteers who have remained so flexible and willing to help, despite us now having to cancel for 2 years in a row. We know this news will come as a disappointment to attendees across the UK, and particularly to the York community where we were promising huge benefits.

We are very confident that we will be in a situation to host the UK’s biggest MakerFest in 2022, allowing us to provide those valuable volunteering experiences, the amazing experience for attendees and the huge benefits for the community of York and the STEM industry.

With nothing but love,

Luke, David and the York MakerFest team