Traverse Area District Library (TADL) and Green Door Folk School are teaming up for a “Traverse City Repair Café” event, scheduled to run from 9am to 1pm this Saturday (November 1) at the main library branch on Woodmere. The event encourages attendees “to bring small, broken household items, such as lamps, toasters, clothes, or chairs, and work alongside skilled volunteers from the community to assess and, when possible, repair them on the spot.” TADL and Green Door Folk School previously hosted a similar event in June.

According to a press release, the repair café idea is based on a model that originated in the Netherlands in 2009 “as a grassroots response to throwaway culture.” To that end, the Traverse City version “aims to reduce waste, extend the life of everyday objects, and provide a practical, hands-on learning experience” for attendees. An “overwhelmingly positive response” to the first repair café this summer led Green Door and TADL to make the event a recurring opportunity.

The repair café is free and open to all, so long as they abide by a two-item limit and a list of “acceptable items” that includes small appliances, clothing, furniture, wooden objects, toys, lamps, or ceramics. Attendees are asked “not bring any items too large to be carried by two people.” Upon arrival, each guest will be matched with a volunteer, based on the items they bring, who will then help walk them through the necessary repair steps.

“Repair is a folk skill too,” Green Door Folk School founder Kristina Schnepf said in the press release. “Fixing broken items instead of throwing them away is becoming a lost art. The Repair Café gives people a chance to learn these skills, without needing all the tools or expertise themselves.”

Photo credit: Lil-Jes Photography