Manchester Makerspace offers family-friendly Father’s Day intro to lockpicking

Manchester Makerspace hosted a Father’s Day locksport session at 36 Old Granite St in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Saturday, June 27, 2026 at 5:30 p.m., and it was set up as a first taste of the hobby rather than a deep technical drill. The introductory class promised a look at lock picking, security and an overview of key biting, with registration including the lesson, a set of tools and a practice lock to take home.

The holiday ticketing made the event feel unusually open to families. Manchester Makerspace priced the special Father’s Day tandem option at $55, and the add-on guest did not have to be a dad. The space said the extra spot could go to a parent, an offspring age 12 or older, or someone else special, which widened the invitation beyond the usual father-and-child framing.

That approach fits the way Manchester Makerspace has positioned itself for years. The nonprofit says it was founded in 2015 as a 501(c)(3) for lifelong learners, and it regularly opens its doors on Monday evenings for public tours and open house visits. The NH Makerspace Network describes the site as a place with 24/7 member access, which puts the locksport class inside a broader calendar of classes, tools and shared-shop mentoring rather than a one-off novelty event.

The Father’s Day theme also follows a pattern. Manchester Makerspace ran a similar locksport class on Monday, June 10, 2024 at 5:30 p.m., and another listing in 2025 showed a “Locksport for Dads” session on Sunday, June 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. One third-party event summary said the starter kit included a Covert Instruments .04 tension bar, short and long picks, a rake and a transparent practice padlock, the kind of gear that gets a new picker handling real tools instead of just watching a demo.

The framing lines up with the locksport community’s own public-facing mission. The Open Organisation Of Lockpickers describes itself as a nonprofit focused on teaching, research and competition, and the class language leaned hard into that educational lane. In a hobby that can still get misunderstood, a $55 family ticket, a take-home practice lock and a Saturday night at a makerspace made the easiest entry point look like the most practical one.