Saint John Community Hackathon: Build with Google AI
Build a seamless platform to aggregate and display Saint John's community events.
The version everyone leaves with.
Participants will use Google AI tools to target local community boards and event listings. For example, you can build an agent that targets a live feed like Saint John Free Events (https://events.sjtoday.ca/show?subset=free) . It will pull raw web data. Then, it will use Google AI to automatically structure it. By the end of the session, you will have a clean, searchable user interface featuring custom headings and event synopses.
Things worth deciding early.
- 1Prompt Gemini to extract dates, times, and venues from unstructured community posts.
- 2Ask Gemini to categorize events into clean tags like "Music," "Tech," or "Family."
- 3Have the AI generate concise, single-sentence event synopses.
What the at-home build adds.
- →Idea 1: Target a live feed like Saint John Free Events, pull the raw web data, and use AI to automatically structure it
- →Idea 2: Build an interactive local map that displays real-time event markers parsed by the AI.
- →Idea 3: Add an automated "Add to Calendar" button that generates clean ICS calendar files from the AI's structured outpu
- →Idea 4: Create a personalized daily event digest email powered by Gemini summaries.
Two tools. Two very different afternoons.
Neither is the beginner option. It comes down to what's already on your laptop, and whether you want a desktop IDE at all. Four questions, then bring the one that fits.
Already know which one you want?
What's on the laptop you'll bring?
Two hours, four movements.
- 0:00 – 0:15Intro
Grab a name tag and a slice, say hello to the instructor, and meet the people either side of you — you'll be asking them things later, so it pays to know their names now. Low pressure, high creativity, ship something messy. Then a quick word on what the room is building tonight, and you're off.
- 0:15 – 0:30Credits & setup
The instructor shares the Google Cloud credits with the room. Everyone gets their environment ready — whichever tool they brought. Nobody should be installing anything once the build starts.
- 0:30 – 1:35Build
Heads down, and enjoy it — this is the part everyone came for. The agent does the typing; you decide what it's making. Ask the room when you get stuck; someone two seats away hit the same wall ten minutes ago. Want more structure? The codelab walks the spec-driven route — Setup → Plan → Review → Build → API → Verify — but nobody has to follow it.
- 1:35 – 2:00Share & submit
Show the room what you made — two minutes, screen-shared from your seat. Half-finished is welcome; the wobbly ones are usually the most interesting. Say what surprised you along the way, and cheer for everyone else while you're at it. Then submit your build before you leave. This is the one thing not to skip — it's what puts your name and your chapter on the showcase, and it takes about two minutes.
Nothing yet.
Builds submitted through this page show up here, credited to Aravind Sivaraman.
Built something at this jam?
Put it on the showcase. It takes two minutes, half-finished is welcome, and your build is credited to this jam automatically.