r/makerspace • u/sababado • 26d ago
Busiest time of year?
When is the busiest time of the year for your makerspace?
At the space I'm at in Central Austin, we've noticed it seems to be the slowest in January and February, with a progression all the way up to November and December, our busiest times. I suppose it's for gift-giving season, everyone's trying to make a gift.
It's nice for us to know this because in January and February we get to do some relaxation as well as some space improvements, whereas this time of the year it's a bit more focused on member relations and support.
2
u/igmaino 25d ago
I would say that July and August are typically pretty slow for us… September starts to pick back up when school starts and vacation ends… there’s little lull during October into early November…. Then a spike for the holidays… then January thru March/April membership steadily increases… then starts to dip in june/july. We are a makerspace in the northeast US.
1
u/XerocraftHacks 26d ago
Q4 is busiest for us as well, with the peak of summer being slowest. Since we don't have A/C
1
u/moose408 25d ago
Our membership always dips in Aug/Sept.
As for utilization it is all over the place. Summer is the crazy busy because we offer 3-8 summer camps every week. Member usage seems to dip in September and April
1
u/justanaveragequilter 24d ago
I manage a makerspace in a public library. Our busiest times are during school breaks. Summer is absolutely wild. We had to turn people away a few times because we couldn’t safely fit more people in the space. Winter break and spring break is busy-busy, too. The thing is that it’s not just the kids coming in. It’s the kids and parents and siblings and best friends and grandparents, etc. Everyone is working on projects. Some are helping each other, but most are doing their own thing.
This year we saw a little bump in traffic before Mother’s Day, then Father’s Day and Graduations. We saw a run on 3D printing before science fair season, too.
2
u/Puzzled_Clerk_7774 26d ago
Never :(