"Sesame Street" Muppets Swing Through Bay Area

With any number of mobile apps and digital education efforts, “Sesame Street” is no stranger to tech.

But the Street’s Muppets themselves are getting a taste of the Bay Area tech scene this week.

Cookie Monster, in town for a PBS convention this week, grabbed a bite to eat Tuesday at the Off the Grid gathering in Daly City. Meanwhile, Snuffleupagus is making his debut — in 3-D printed form — at this weekend’s Maker Faire in San Mateo.

Snuffy’s Maker Faire gig is part of a partnership between Sesame Workshop and 3-D printer maker MakerBot. The lovable brown Muppet will be the first “Sesame Street” character to be available for download and 3-D printing from MakerBot’s digital store, with more characters and pre-made 3D-models to follow.

MakerBot is hiding a bunch of 3-D printed Snuffleupaguses around the event, and those who find them can take a selfie in front of an eight-foot tall, 3-D printed replica of “Sesame Street’s” iconic lamp and sign post.

“We are thrilled to be working with MakerBot to offer 3-D printed ‘Sesame Street’ characters, and we couldn’t think of a better place to debut Snuffy than at the Bay Area Maker Faire, where they showcase that latest and greatest of new forms and new technologies,” Sesame Workshop VP Jennifer Ahearn said in a statement to Re/code.

As for Cookie Monster, he stuck to what he knows best: Eating.

Showing he’s not afraid to expand his diet, Cookie Monster started out with some lobster from the Lobsta Truck and tried out some steamed buns from the Chairman Bao Bun Truck before heading for some dessert at Frozen Kuhsterd (he ordered the “Cookie Monster,” natch).

The impromptu appearance was something of a rarity for Sesame Workshop, which doesn’t typically take the actual Muppets and their actors out in public without a lot of planning and coordination. A Facebook post earlier on Tuesday said that Cookie Monster would be at the food truck gathering, but the appearance of the genuine article (and his voice, David Rudman) as opposed to an actor in a Cookie Monster suit was a bonus for those who turned up.

Cookie Monster also managed to take in a Giants game earlier in the week.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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