{"id":250042,"date":"2016-04-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/keeping-cool-with-earthfair-2\/"},"modified":"2016-04-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T07:00:00","slug":"keeping-cool-with-earthfair-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/keeping-cool-with-earthfair-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping cool with EarthFair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annual planet-embracing festival returns in advance of Earth Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Morgan M. Hurley | Editor<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t already doing it in your daily life, it\u2019s that time of the year to feel connected to the Earth again, as the annual EarthFair 2016 heads to Balboa Park on April 17 from 10 a.m. \u2013 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

Though the internationally recognized Earth Day is actually the following Friday, April 22, San Diego Earth Works \u2014 the nonprofit that has produced the annual local homage to planet Earth since 1990, the 20th anniversary of the Earth Day \u2014 likes to gets a jump on things.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the \u201clargest free annual environmental fair in the world\u201d by organizers, it certainly is a large draw locally, attracting nearly 600,000 visitors to Balboa Park every year for the one-day festival. In comparison, organizers say the first event in 1990 drew 60,000.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s EarthFair is themed \u201cVote Cool,\u201d a spin on the current presidential election season.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only do we need to support ways to cool global warming, we need cooler heads in our politics,\u201d said Carolyn Chase, chief executive officer of Earth Works. \u201cBe cool, do cool, VOTE COOL!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nearly<\/a>
Nearly 600,000 people are expected to take part in this year’s EarthFair at Balboa Park April 17. (Courtesy San Diego EarthWorks)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year\u2019s EarthFair attendees are in for another full day of exhibitors, kids activities, entertainment, sustainable energy and product demonstrations, art, food and more, all focused on sustaining the planet where we all live. There\u2019s even a kid\u2019s Earth parade and a concourse showing off the latest in electric cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s totally amazing to me each year all the new things people come up with to go green and help others do the next thing,\u201d Chase said. \u201cAlso interesting is who sticks with it from year-to-year \u2014 what works and what doesn’t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The list of exhibitors, which really are the heart and soul of this event, is exhaustive. They include national brands and small mom-and-pop businesses, including such unique vendors as Aunt Be Botanicals, Plant with a Purpose, Peace Pies, Herbal Apothecary, Temple Turmeric, the Friendly Feather Shop, Scenichouse, Urban Octupus and dozens of others. Also on hand are local and state community and public service organizations, those with political leanings, and the expected, like Greenpeace, SDG&E, SolarCity, MTS, the Sierra Club and more. For a full list of exhibitors, visit tinyurl.com\/ztwpcsd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI make a list each year of the tables I\u2019m going to visit with an empty backpack at the beginning of the day,\u201d Chase said. \u201cThis year I hope to score a free tomato plant, sustainable dog treats for my dog Dozey and some of the most fantastic enviro-candles \u2014 and that\u2019s just to start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entertainment this year will take place on five different stages throughout the park.<\/p>\n

The Children\u2019s Area will have its own Children\u2019s Stage, with lots of performances for kids when they are not occupied by the crafts, painting and games in the rest of the area.<\/p>\n

There will also be a Magic Show stage set up in front of the lily pond, with entertainment by EarthFair mainstay \u201cthe Dr. Wilderness Family.\u201d The children\u2019s parade will start from Spanish Village at 10:30 a.m. and work its way to Pan American Plaza, where the Children\u2019s Area can be found.<\/p>\n

Other stages include the Sun Stage, located behind the Federal Building and the Moon Stage at Park Boulevard and President\u2019s Way. Both will feature contemporary style music.<\/p>\n

Those interested in learning about everything imaginable that falls under the sustainable umbrella will want to hit up the eHome exhibit area. Ways to get you off the grid, make your windows more energy efficient, and alternative home building methods will all be on display with demonstrations and representatives to assist you.<\/p>\n

Sustainable, plant-based food can be found in the Food Pavilion. Always been curious about vegetarian and vegan fare? Here is your chance to check it out. There will be no shortage of non-meat options.<\/p>\n

Remember EarthFair is a \u201czero waste\u201d event \u2014 you can imagine it creates a lot of potential waste \u2014 but everything used is recycled. Organizers said that last year they were able to divert 90 percent of their waste from the landfill by keeping to this policy. That\u2019s commendable, and you can do your part.<\/p>\n

In addition to overseeing the April 17 event, Chase said she likes to spend a big part of the festival taking hundreds of photographs with two different cameras to capture the day\u2019s festivities and document them for EarthWorks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy pre-event nightmare the other week was that I forgot my camera,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For more information about EarthFair, and information on alternative transportation options, visit earthdayweb.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Morgan M. Hurley puede ser contactado en morgan@sdcnn.com.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Annual planet-embracing festival returns in advance of Earth Day By Morgan M. Hurley | Editor If you aren\u2019t already doing it in your daily life, it\u2019s that time of the year to feel connected to the Earth again, as the annual EarthFair 2016 heads to Balboa Park on April 17 from 10 a.m. \u2013 5 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":250043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Keeping cool with EarthFair","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}