Peoria Public Library, North Branch 10am-2pm

This event again included our DIY Materials swap and clothing swap, Peoria Bike Coop and Master Gardeners, and we were able to bring a new volunteer in for the knife/scissor sharpening! Hosted by Peoria Public Library North Branch, we thought we might have a larger crowd because of the extra outreach they provided and we were right! Our largest attendance yet, we had 38 visitors and weighed 220 pounds of repairs that did not have to a)remain in your basement or b)go to the landfill.

Fix-it Story of the Day: Well other than some FANTASTIC new volunteer talent in the small appliance division (much needed as that was the greatest “area of need”) and a lovely conversation with Linda, who just popped in to see what we were doing, I want to share the story of “The Juicer That Wasn’t Broken.” 

Once upon a time, a woman juiced a lot of I’m going to say lemons because I don’t actually know what she was juicing when the juicer stopped working. She boxed up the appliance and put it away thinking darn, now how do I get that fixed? Well, years went by (I’m making this part up too) and one day she found out about the Peoria Repair Cafe and thought, “I will bring my broken juicer and see if they can help me fix it!” On the day of the Repair Cafe she was first in line. They took her juicer out of the box. Plugged it in…and it worked! Not broken! We all learned something that day: some appliances have something called (dang it, I can’t find my notes) a thermal auto shut off thingy that when your appliance overheats because of overuse it will shut off the appliance automatically so it does not catch on fire. Great feature, right? So now we know a)be gentle to your juicer and b)if your appliance shuts off unexpectedly, try it again the next day (or in an hour?) after it has cooled down.

Volunteers: 22

Visitors: 38

Fixed Items: 26 (lots sharpened! Bikes fixed!)

Weight: 221 lbs

ICC North Student Center, 9am-1pm

No DIY materials swap this time, but we had our clothing swap again! Also bike repair courtesy of the Peoria Bike Coop and garden tool sharpening Master Gardeners AND our main knife sharpener was not available so we had Jeep and Heather from River City Labs supervising knife and scissors sharpening!

I had noticed Repair Cafe International was sponsoring a “Linux Repair Cafe” webinar to get ahead of the end of Windows 10 in October of 2026 (which puts millions of older computers at risk of becoming e-waste). I asked our electronics volunteer if he knew how to install Linux on computers and well yes of course he did! So this event also introduced Linux operating system installs to prevent our local older computers from becoming e-waste! I determined my no-longer-supported Chromebook is a candidate for this Linux update and plan to do this at one of our events myself.

Fix-It Story of the Day: Not one single amazing magical story (like last time) but there were lots of clothing repairs and I had a good time helping an eager photographer fix his “dark bag,” but I enjoyed the coming together of the “fixing community” and we gained some excited volunteers! Also our small appliance guy, who has fixed a few things for me, had a blanket that needed repair which I was able to do for him. Oh, and we matched Meg’s power tool with the part our small engine person had purchased in anticipation for the previous event. Communication snafu and power tool repaired!

Oh, and I almost forgot, Dyson Fan Fix Complete! 

Volunteers: 20

Visitors: 25

Fixed Items: 13? Numerous knives and tools sharpened and bikes fixed!

Weight:  66lbs?

St. Paul Episcopal Church, 5pm-8pm

Our first Repair Cafe of the year, hosted by Jessica McGee through her North Art Studio space at St. Paul Episcopal Church. We tried a Friday night to accommodate the schedule of some key volunteers, and we incorporated a DIY Materials swap by Peggy West, also a North Art Studio artist. Also a clothing swap! 

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