DIY Fest features local artists and craftsmen

The  seventh annual DIY Fest, a free festival featuring workshops on craft projects and self-improvement, was held at St. John’s Church on Saturday.

Ten workshops on a wide variety of topics  were available. PreZerve, a home-canning education center, gave a workshop on Kombucha-brewing.

Workshops also reached into the realm of health. Attendees could participate in an opioid overdose talk, where they learned about how to prevent and manage an overdose. The workshop was tailored to Maryland policy.

Self-defense workshops were also available. Steve Hung, a Baltimore martial arts expert, taught basic grabs and holds for self-protection.

A self-cleansing and body care class was offered to participants of age 10 and older.

Yarnbombing was available from Baltimore Thread Quarters, a craft store that teaches classes at its location on Conkling Street. The yarnbombing skills were taught using basic crochet techniques.

A pest management workshop was held that afternoon and hosted by the Community Greening Resource Network. The organization offered tips on removing garden pests in a safe, cheap and environmentally friendly manner.

In addition, Old Town Lutherie offered a Guitar Setup Workshop. He taught participants how to clean their guitars themselves, but he also offered a paid service to set up a guitar bridge or clean a guitar for $20.

The festival was free and open to the general public, but money raised from tabling fees and donations were given back to St. John’s Church to compensate for free use of the space.

The DIY Fest was planned by Tess Oby, Nick Bittle and Alex Herbkersman. Oby, a Baltimore resident of 11 years, said that she was inspired to plan the first DIY Fest in 2008 by her own interests.

“[DIY] is something that I’ve always kind of lived by,” Oby said.

Inspired by DIY-based events around the country and a passion for hands-on projects, Oby decided to host a small skill-sharing event for friends in her home. Following its success, she enlisted the help of two members of Baltimore’s worker-owner collective, Red Emma’s, acquired the space at St. John’s Church and expanded the event into an annual, citywide festival.

At the first DIY Fest she met Nick Bittle, a Baltimore native and expert in Information Technology. Sensing the need for motivated contributors behind the curtain, Bittle joined the executive team and set to expanding the event’s online presence.

For four of the following six years, he hosted his own workshops on the subject of Personal Information Security.

“[DIY Fest] gets people who have unique skillsets out and visible,” Bittle said. “Events like this motivate the vendors.”

New to this year’s DIY Fest was the on-site flea market where visitors had the chance to purchase various craft supplies, photography equipment and other used items potentially useful for DIY projects.

Baltimore’s DIY Fest is one of hundreds of similar festivals that have cropped up all over the U.S. in recent years. DIY Fest has seen consistent enthusiasm from Baltimore residents throughout its seven-year run.

Oby said she hopes to host a longer, more expansive DIY Fest with events spread throughout a weekend in the future.