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Thurston County partnership and volunteers repair household items at Fix-It Fair
Summary
Community volunteers and MakerSpace staff partnered with Thurston County Public Works at a Fix-It Fair where residents brought in broken household items for repair, keeping goods out of the landfill and restoring accessibility equipment.
A community Fix-It Fair organized with Thurston County Public Works and a local MakerSpace drew volunteers who repaired a range of household items, organizers and participants said.
“This is a fix it fair, which is a community repair event where we have volunteers from the community helping fix broken items that are brought in by members of the community,” Speaker 1, Participant, said, describing the event. Speakers credited volunteers with restoring several items that otherwise might have been thrown away.
The event addressed both everyday repairs and accessibility needs. Speaker 2, Participant, described bringing a small wheelchair used by her 6-year-old: “We had a little floor wheelchair, that my 6 year old uses at home so that he can cruise around our home… And the wheels were super wobbly and just not safe. And so, we could not fix it at home. And so I found this online, signed us up, and here we are.” Speaker 3, Participant, added that a volunteer named Dan helped: “And Dan helped us and, it was good because it wasn't as easy as turning a wrench at home and with a little bit of elbow grease, Dan helped us out. So I was happy.”
Organizers highlighted environmental goals. “Our mission really is diverting materials from the landfill, preventing natural resources from ending up in the garbage,” Speaker 1, Participant, said. Speaker 6, Staff member with MakerSpace, said the group hoped the event would be the first of many, and reported volunteer turnout: “We've had over 2 dozen people volunteer, to be fixers.”
Attendees described other repairs completed at the fair. One participant said a broken decorative tile brought from Europe by a grandmother who fled Hitler decades ago had been glued and retouched successfully: “It turned out absolutely wonderful,” Speaker 7, Participant, said. Another brought a 40-year-old copper watering can with a detached handle and a leak in the spout; the speaker said they were unwilling to discard items that could be repaired. A different attendee said they learned multiple ways to mend a sweater elbow and that the repaired garment would be a “beautiful reminder of today.”
No formal votes or policy actions were recorded in the transcript. The remarks presented the event as a volunteer-driven collaboration between Thurston County Public Works and the MakerSpace, focused on repair, reuse and accessibility support.
Organizers and participants said the fair served multiple community needs—preventing waste, repairing sentimental or durable goods and restoring mobility equipment. Several speakers cited the partnership with Thurston County Public Works as key to the event and encouraged similar future collaborations.
