Mactoberfest Meetup

Vintage Macintosh Meetup Extravaganza

November 7, 2026 – Belmont, California

Join fellow enthusiasts to celebrate classic Apple hardware. Connect, learn, and share your passion for vintage Macintosh computers. RSVP today to secure your spot.

Mactoberfest Meetup is back for 2026!

Classic Macintosh fans, don’t miss your chance to revisit the halcyon days of Hypercard, desk accessories, and flying toasters! Mactoberfest Meetup is returning to the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday November 7, in Belmont California. Bring your classic Macintosh, your 1993 issues of MacUser magazine, your LocalTalk cables, and your test and repair tools. We’ve rented a historic church building for the day, with enough space for about 100 of the Macintosh faithful. Come join the fun! And if you don’t live in California, steal a car and drive here. If you’re in jail, break out! You don’t want to miss this.

This is a meetup, so the main activities will be meeting other classic Macintosh fans and admiring everybody’s collection – hardware, media, collectibles, or anything else. If you feel that you don’t have anything special enough to be worth showing – don’t worry! A common Macintosh running an old popular game can make for great conversation.

Missed the 2023 Mactoberfest? Check out the recap here for details on how we spent the day together, and get a sense of what’s in store for 2026.

What to expect at Mactoberfest Meetup:

30+ vintage Macintosh / Apple exhibits and live demos
A community of fellow enthusiasts who share your passion for classic computers
Flea market – Buy, sell, or trade vintage Apple equipment
Freebies table – Got anything you can give away for free? Put your donations of extra disk drives, cables, adapters, and peripheral cards here. See something you like? Take it!
Workshop and repair table – Stocked with soldering tools, a microscope, meters, and maybe an oscilloscope or logic analyzer. Troubleshoot your broken computers here, or build something new.
LAN game competition – How about Spaceward Ho at 3:00 PM? Start practicing now!
Spontaneous ideas – System 6 trivia quiz? 2400 baud modem demos?

Please bear in mind this is a grassroots event with no formal “staff” and no admission fee (although we do ask for donations to help cover costs). The organizers are just three Macintosh fans hoping to enjoy a fun day with other enthusiasts, but we definitely can’t do it all alone. We need help from you! We’re happy to coordinate the building rental and registration, but we need you to bring Mac-stuff to show, and to help coordinate some of the activities, and to chill out when things don’t go exactly as planned. Set your expectations for a boisterous ad-hoc get-together, rather than a polished trade show experience, and we’ll get along just fine.

What you should bring:

Vintage computer hardware, media, and collectibles.
Extension cords and power strips for your computers – We definitely won’t have enough for everybody.
Items to sell in the flea market.
Soldering irons and tools like tweezers, cutters, and magnifiers. Multimeters and test equipment. Capacitors and components for common repairs.
Odds-and-ends to donate for the Freebies Table – How many old SCSI drives and spare motherboards do you really need, anyway? Stop hoarding them.
Kits and DIY stuff – Can you donate anything that ‘just needs assembly’, like a microcontroller kit or a set of replacement floppy drive gears?
Cool stuff you can donate as prizes or give-aways.
Snacks, water, or drinks – Donations will be very appreciated.

How you can help:

Can you take a turn for an hour at the workshop table, helping somebody to troubleshoot a Sad Mac error code or recap a motherboard? How about organizing the LAN tournament? Or if you have another idea for a fun activity, great! Your willingness to help is the critical ingredient for the meetup’s success.

Details

MACTOBERFEST
Bay Area Classic Macintosh Meetup / Demo / Workshop / Swap-Meet / Tournament / Whatever
Saturday 7 November 2026, 11:00am to 5:00pm
Belmont, California
(event address is on the RSVP form)

Please don’t forget to RSVP if you’re if you’re maybe, probably, or definitely planning to attend. This will help us keep track of who’s bringing what items, and the likely overall attendance level. The street address in Belmont is on the RSVP form.

RSVP here for Mactoberfest

You’ve got Mactoberfest questions! We will try to answer them: shoot us an email. See you soon.

Browse strange and wonderful vintage Apple computer equipment

Repair your broken computers and get them working like new

Enjoy games, contests, and more

Buy, sell, and trade your vintage treasures

Frequently Asked Questions

Maybe your question is already answered here.

What is this?

Mactoberfest Meetup is a free social event for classic Macintosh computer collectors in the San Francisco area, and their Apple II friends. Attendees are bringing their computer collections to display, and we’ll also have a flea market, a freebies table, a workshop area, and more. It’ll be a fun day poking at old computer hardware and revisiting the days of Hypercard, desk accessories, and flying toasters! We’re expecting about 40 collection displays and 100 people total.

Who’s organizing all this?

Mactoberfest Meetup is led by Steve Chamberlin, Bruno Marchon, and Ronald Pagani Jr.

Where and when is the meetup?

Saturday November 7, 11:00am to 5:00pm, in Belmont California. RSVP for the address.

How much does it cost?

Admission is free and open to all. We’re asking for donations to help defray the costs of the venue rental, materials, and insurance. The suggested donation is $15 per person. If you’re able to donate more, it’s a big help. If you can’t afford to donate anything, you’re still welcome to join us.

Where can I park?

There’s parking for 65 cars in the lot at the venue. Overflow street parking is available nearby. Attendees who aren’t bringing any equipment are asked to park on the street, and leave the parking lot spaces for people with heavy computers to unload.

What equipment should I bring?

One or more pieces of classic 1980s and 1990s Macintosh gear, or Lisa / Apple II computers, Newtons, eMate, QuickTake cameras, Macintosh clones, printers, routers, software media, documentation, books, souvenirs…

How should I prepare my equipment?

Bring your own extension cords and power strips. Label everything with your name. Plan defensively for equipment safety: you are assuming the risk of accidental spills, damage, loss, etc.

What software should I run on the computer?

Please avoid having computers idling at the Finder desktop. Load the computer with your favorite classic game, content creation software, screen savers, demos, or anything else that others might enjoy experimenting with.

How will the equipment be displayed?

We’ll have several rooms furnished with chairs and 72 x 30 inch banquet tables. Everyone will have at least half a table to display their equipment, with extra space available for people with larger collections.

How will the flea market work?

We expect to have several dozen people bringing classic computer gear to sell. For-sale items may be located at the display tables or in the designated for-sale area of the building. Please tag your for-sale items with your price and your name / phone number, so interested buyers can text/call you if you’re not standing next to the items all day. You can use this template for sales tags.

What’s the freebies table?

It’s a dedicated area for donating extra items you no longer need, for other people to take. Disk drives, mice, keyboards, cables, floppy disks, peripheral cards, books, whole computers… If you see something you want here, take it!

What’s the workshop station?

It’s an area stocked with tools for troubleshooting and repairing computers, or building project kits. Expect to find soldering irons, tools, a multimeter, and maybe an oscilloscope or logic analyzer.

What’s the plan for LAN games?

Bring your LocalTalk PhoneNet cables if you have them. We’ll organize teams for network play of Bolo and other classic Mac network games.

What else can I bring besides classic computer gear?

Please bring your tools and parts for the Workshop Station: multimeters and test equipment, irons, grips, mats, screwdrivers, tweezers, pliers, cutters, spare parts, etc.

Will food be available on-site?

No, there won’t be food vendors or catering at the meetup location. There’s a shopping mall nearby with a grocery store and restaurants. Please consider bringing snacks or drinks to share; we all participate in making this event a success. Good options might be fruit/vegetables, granola bars, mini sandwiches, crackers and chips, and canned or bottled drinks. Avoid open beverage containers or foods that are messy and have higher risk of spills into keyboards. The venue has utensils and plates if needed. Any plasticware must be compostable or recyclable, no disposable plastic is permitted.

What about COVID precautions?

We’re planning an indoor-outdoor meetup in a very well-ventilated building: all doors and windows will remain open throughout the event. Masks will be provided at the main entrance for anybody who wants one. People with symptoms or a fever will be asked to stay home.

How else can I help?

If you have time, stick around after the meetup to help tidy up and put things away. Thank you!

E-waste note

Everything you bring to Mactoberfest must be taken home with you at the end of the day, unless it’s sold or positively claimed at the Freebies table. Don’t abandon any equipment or parts at the meetup site. Don’t put e-waste into the building’s trash cans or dumpster. Thanks for your understanding.