Programming and mentorship
Lower Alabama AI
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit building an inclusive AI community on the Gulf Coast through education and practical projects. LA-AI sets the program, recruits the mentors and judges, and runs the panels.
la-ai.ioA fair for what’s next
The World’s Fairs of the 1930s and 40s put the future on a midway and let the whole town walk through it. Hatchathon does the same for the Gulf Coast: two weeks of building on real local challenges, then one afternoon where the town comes to see what got made.
Two weeks, then a fair
Local businesses and organizations bring problems they need solved. Builders in three tracks pick one at the kickoff, on their own or in teams, and spend two weeks making a working answer. On the last Saturday the doors open to everyone: the builders show their work, artists fill the showcase, panels argue about what comes next, and there is music and food until seven.
It started as a two-week hackathon and demo night. The 2027 edition keeps the build and turns the finale into a fair, because the point was never only the code. It is the people who stay on the Gulf Coast because there is interesting work to do here.
Two nonprofits, one fair
Host and venue
Hatch Fairhope
Fairhope’s nonprofit coworking and innovation hub, a member of the Baldwin Alliance for Economic Development. Hatch brings the business network, the sponsors, and the building itself: the fair fills its home at 100 S Church St.
hatchfairhope.comLA-AI brings the technical community. Hatch brings the businesses with problems worth solving and the place to solve them. Together they make something neither could run alone: a fair where local talent and local challenges meet in public.
Build it or back it
Builders register free. Businesses bring a challenge or sponsor the fair.