How a power outage made for the best event of the year.
Each year, Lowell Makes hosts a dinner for our dedicated Shop Captains and Co-captains to show our appreciation for all the incredible work they do. This year, we expanded the event to include our devoted volunteers—the folks who help make Lowell Makes such an amazing place to be.
With that in mind, we thought: what better place to celebrate than in our own backyard? We connected with the good folks at Taffeta to reserve their space for our party.
Everything was running smoothly. Venue, check. Catering, check. Visuals, check. Speeches, check. Specialty cocktail, check. All we needed to do was arrive at Taffeta and start decorating.
But then, dear readers, the unthinkable happened. At around 4:30 PM on the night of the dinner, a transformer on Western Ave blew. It plunged not only Lowell Makes, but Western Ave Studios, Lofts, and—yes—Taffeta into total darkness.
Messages started flying. What should we do? Can we still have our dinner? Will the power come back? National Grid had estimated the power would return around 6-ish, so we chose to forge ahead. Members of the planning committee headed to Taffeta to see what could be done while we waited.
We stood in the cool, quiet dark of Taffeta—event coordinator Chelsea and owner Sean on hand and ready to help. Six o’clock came and went. Then six-thirty.
It was not looking good for our heroes.
With less than half an hour before the event was scheduled to begin, word came in: repairs would take longer. Power was now only estimated to return after 9 PM.
Did that stop our intrepid makers? Of course not.
Since we could no longer safely hold the event at Taffeta, we packed up the food and décor and quickly pivoted. The dinner was moving to Lowell Makes. Calls went out: Bring battery-powered lights. Bring what you have. We’re doing this.
And wow, did our community come through. Members jumped in everywhere—setting up buffet tables and seating, stringing lights through the lounge, hauling in portable speakers and a projector, making a booze run, decorating with pine boughs and electric candles.
The result was nothing short of magical.
Together, in pure maker fashion, we created something from nothing. We didn’t just salvage the Captains & Volunteers Dinner—we embodied the spirit of Lowell Makes: we do great things when we work together.
The dinner was a resounding success—made even sweeter by the challenges we overcame. Many said it turned out even better than what we originally planned.
Then, right in the middle of a laptop-battery-powered karaoke session, the lights flickered back on. Cheers erupted. And then… we turned them off again.
Because this was how the Captain’s & Volunteers Dinner was meant to be.
View Photos of the Event
