By WILLIAM HOLDER
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
Correction: The Waltham Repair Cafe was originally reported as Nov. 1. That was a typographic error. The correct date is Nov. 16.
They came bearing broken lamps, ailing blenders, dead record players, bicycles – items large and small, complicated and simple.
Their destination was the Waltham Repair Cafe, making its debut Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation. Volunteer repairers stood by to offer free repairs and plenty of conversation with attendees.
Waltham resident Krys Petrie, who describes herself as a multidisciplinary engineer, is the founder and organizer of the event, which brought more than 100 people and 18 volunteer repairers to the museum. She had volunteered previously at a repair cafe in Melrose and thought the concept would be particularly apt in Waltham, with its rich industrial history.
“I think these sorts of events can help bring the community together, across socioeconomic, class and political lines,” she said, “as well as keep items out of the waste stream.”
She added: “I’ve been repairing and tinkering and crafting and making for as long as I can remember. It’s something I do for fun.”
Petrie has a full workshop in her basement and an electronics workstation upstairs in her house.
She is also no stranger to volunteer organizing, having worked extensively, along with her wife, for Waltham Pride.
The challenge for repairers at the cafe, Petrie explained, is to select the most versatile tools to bring to the event without knowing what they will be called on to repair.
“You have to focus your mind not on what is a correct way to do things, but on what is a sufficient way to improve the problem, even if it’s a temporary fix,” she said.
The Waltham Repair Cafe volunteers are mostly skilled hobbyists who don’t offer guarantees, and this informal setting is not for those who need a high level of expert help.
Lamp repairs and knife sharpening prove popular
But most attendees appeared to need simple fixes for their problems.
Some items have purely sentimental value, such as a 68-year-old lamp brought by Lisa McMahon.
“It’s a dream,” McMahonsaid. “I have all these lamps that I never thought I could get fixed.”
As a former board member with a Waltham nonprofit (WATCH CDC), she said she is a firm believer in strengthening communities through the kind of nonprofit work offered by the repair cafe.
Her repairer, Ian Moriarty, had volunteered at a repair cafe in Melrose and knew that lamps would be in demand. He came armed with numerous spare parts and said his aim is to get lamps, with their simple electronics, fixed within 15 minutes.
Knife sharpening is another popular request, and volunteer Anna Gardberg, a biotech scientist involved in early drug discovery, said she was eager to bring her knife sharpener and participate.
Other items appeared to be more challenging, such as David Rosado’s 1992 cassette deck that would not play tapes, or Rachel Field’s record player that she fished out of a Newton swap shack and discovered would provide only intermittent sound.
Perhaps the most unusual item was an Edison Standard Phonograph – the kind you might see in a movie set in the late 1800s, with a rotating cylinder and a horn to broadcast sound. This type of phonograph, developed by Thomas Edison, was one of the earliest devices for recording and playing sound. The windup handle was working, but the cylinder would not function properly. Owner Heather Hacker and volunteer Charlie Faulstich spent part of Saturday’s event deep in conversation about what kind of repairs might work.
Petrie said she was pleased by the large turnout of both volunteers and repair participants.
“We were extremely busy,” she said. “I was so happy to see the joy we brought to so many people of all ages and happy to get so many thanks from the community. We will definitely be hosting more of these events in the future.”More information is available at walthamrc.org.
Enjoy this slide show of photos by William Holder.
Waltham’s first Repair Café drew more than 100 people at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation on Saturday, Nov. 16. 
Waltham resident Krys Petrie, founder of the Waltham Repair Café, works on a broken CD player at the café’s debut event on Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation. 
Volunteer repairer Ian Moriarty restores to working order a 68-year-old lamp with sentimental value, owned by Lisa McMahon. 
Volunteer repairer Will Roos probes the innards of a 1992 cassette player.
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