Ed. Note: Here's a note from Jill Robinson on the Walpole Energy Fair set for May 3. Mark your calendars! CCB
"TriVillage Energy is organizing a rather ambitious Energy Fair for Saturday, May 3. It will be held in the Town Hall and on The Common (weather permitting), from 10 am until 3 pm. We are planning lots of activities, including a parade, exhibitors and vendors, a local farmers market, demonstrations, activities for kids, presentations, films, music, greenish home and homestead tour, and finally a Contra Dance!
The parade will include all manner of greener transportation choices, from people walking to kids on bikes to biodiesel and hybrid cars, to horses.
Exhibitors and vendors will display better-energy products, services, and information. Over 30 exhibitors have already signed on. They include, for example, advocacy organizations promoting a healthier earth; sellers of greener products like organic cotton Tees and new clothes crafted from old clothes; businesses with products to help you green your home with insulation, solar systems, low energy appliances; and builders of more sustainable communities and more energy efficient homes.
Local farmers will offer whatever they may have on hand at the very beginning of the season, hopefully fresh young greens, and meat, dairy, and eggs. Products made from locally grown raw materials may also appear at the farmers market.
If the weather cooperates, there will be a demonstration (and tasting!) of solar cooked food. Other demonstrations will include mushroom log inoculation, planting salad greens in a portable salad box, and composting.
Kids will be able to stop by the Boy Scout's area and make their own solar hot dog cookers, and taste solar cooked hot dogs made from grass fed, local beef (again, if the sun cooperates). Kids can also learn to make useful things from "trash."
Presentations and films will cover green building, biofuels, municipal action to address climate change and peak oil, building community, permaculture, and other pro-active responses to a changing energy future.
An on-your-own tour of area homes and homesteads with better energy practices such as solar power and passive solar design is scheduled.
The ladies of the Congregational Church will be offering lunch in the church.
Donated better-energy items will be raffled off in a penny auction. Portable salad boxes will be on sale at TriVillage Energy's own exhibit space.
There will be music throughout the day (solar powered, if the sun is shining), and a Contra Dance from 8 pm to 11 pm, with lessons for beginners at 7:30.
TriVillage Energy encourages EVERYONE to participate in the Fair. We need need many volunteers to help with all phases of planning and execution.
We also need everyone who eats Pringles to save the cans for the Boy Scouts. Because they are lined with reflective foil, they make great solar hot dog cookers. (Disclaimer: we do not encourage anyone to eat Pringles, but if you do, don't toss the can!)
The volume of data and contacts we are dealing with is huge. If possible, please get in touch by email with Jill Robinson at EnergyFair@trivillageenergy.org. If you cannot email, please call Kim Lewis at 756-9204, Fritze Till at 445-5283, or Tara Sad at 756-4861. "
