I am sad to report that Steve Finberg, cofounder and longtime impresario of the MIT Electronics…read moreSwapfest, died on April 23, 2021. As it happens, I was just about to write him to ask what the plans were for reopening post-COVID. Steve was always in the public eye, enthusiastically promoting and administering the event, but was also an intensely private individual. His cheerful energy will be missed. The Swapfest was tentatively schedule to resume in mid-August 2021. Monitor the website for any updates.

Cool stuff, great prices. I got like 10 super cool antique radio switches for $5 and my friend got…read morea Leatherman for $3. If you've ever wanted to build your own radio, this is the place for you. There were also very cheap old PC components, perfect for restoration projects. There were fewer Apple components (as I would expect) but they were still very reasonably priced and in good condition for the most part. My only qualm was with the venders. For the most part they were kind and helpful, mostly nerdy in a charming way. There were, however, at least three instances where venders made very sexist, condescending remarks, such as "you should find a boyfriend who can teach you engineering," or "this isn't the place for a nice girl like you, with all these electronics!" Usually I could forgive this, and in all cases I informed them that I was in fact an engineer despite being a woman (a radical concept, I know), but in all cases, when I asked the prices of different components they gave me ones that were significantly higher than usual. I decided to do an experiment; I had my friend (a guy) go to one of the same venders and ask the price of the same component and the vender's price for him was lower (only by like two dollars, but still).