Green fairs are sprouting up nationwide
What’s a fair without rickety roller coasters and pie-baking competitions?
How about wind power technology, Segway test rides and the nation’s fastest vegetable oil-powered car. That’s what attendees found at last weekend’s Green Solutions Expo at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, the latest in a string of fairs focused more on the environment and eco-friendly innovation than on hog races, arts and crafts shows and deep-fried nostalgia.
The Green Long Beach Festival last month showcased an art project with 23,000 water bottles representing the dolphins that activists say are killed in Japan each year. The upcoming Spring Green Expo in downtown Los Angeles will feature student-designed sustainability projects and panels on organic gardening.
“We wanted it to be a sensible green show where the average person who’s never been to one before could come out and feel comfortable,” said Paul Smith, organizer of the Green Solutions Expo.
As the Great Park’s massive orange balloon loomed nearby Friday, exhibitors set up their booths, several powered by mobile solar panels. Organizers chose the site because of its eco-friendly features, including large trash receptacles that compact waste using the sun’s rays.
There were traditional fair vendors with kettle corn and lemonade as well as sellers of green crafts such as soy candles and flip-flops made from recycled rubber. Also included was a home and garden section with triple-pane windows and organic fruit trees.
“A couple of years ago, a fair like this wouldn’t have worked,” said Rod Roberts, a representative of Blue Island Plumbing in Fountain Valley. “But more people now are willing to put their money on a green product.”
Roberts was setting up a display of the company’s hybrid water heating system, which is more energy efficient than conventional systems and works with low-flow faucet and shower fixtures.
Whether eco-fests will be able to attract people used to finding their summer fun at the more traditional Orange County Fair or Los Angeles County Fair remains to be seen.
“This clearly won’t draw the same kind of crowd,” said Cliff Raitz, owner of sustainable landscaping firm Terrascapes, a Costa Mesa company among the exhibitors at the expo. “But we’re thinking quality over quantity. We’re trying to target people who care about our world.”
Outdoor fests dedicated to green living are popping up all over the country. Visitors can drop off old cellphones, printers, televisions, batteries and plastic bags for recycling at the California Green Fair, scheduled for June 16 in Sacramento.
The 10th annual Green Fair in Ann Arbor, Mich., on June 11 will have organic food vendors, guided walking tours of an eco-friendly building, giveaways of compact fluorescent light bulbs and biking games to encourage zero-emission transportation. Cooking demonstrations, conservation presentations and green art will be part of the festivities in November at the Wyland Living Green Fair in Boca Raton, Fla.
More extravagant attractions may not be far off. Washuzan Highland amusement park in Japan has a pedal-operated roller coaster. The Akron Zoo in Ohio sports a carousel made with sustainably harvested wood, water-based paint and LED lights. Even eco-friendly cotton candy made with hand-collected organic sugar cane is available.
If last weekend’s launch went well, Smith said, future fairs might be run entirely on solar energy, with mobile restrooms equipped with composters and trams powered by biofuels.
John Snyder, however, just wants to show off his 1970 Volkswagen Beetle. The operations manager at Chapman University upgraded his ride into a fully electric vehicle as a hobby and began taking it to car shows. The Irvine expo is his first green show.
“The timing’s perfect because of the gulf spill,” he said. “I have no idea what kind of response to expect. I just want to see if the market is ready.”
