What’s new at the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair? Growth, for one thing: The festival of everything renewable under the sun has become a great green behemoth and will move this year to a new outdoor location on twenty acres at the Rocky Mountain Raptor Center in Fort Collins. And that means more stuff, notes fair director Kristina Cash, including 225 exhibitors and fifty workshops featuring extended how-to classes such as “Run Your Diesel on Straight Vegetable Oil” or “Homebrew Wind Turbines,” plus a daily slate of shorter, free workshops, an extensive Eat Local area, high-profile speakers, a kids’ scavenger hunt and even a giant bamboo dome for shade. A veritable idea bin of unprecedented proportions, the fair, which opened yesterday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, doesn’t leave one stone unturned.
“That’s what makes it a fair, why we’re effective: People leave with actual practical solutions that they can start using immediately,” says Cash, who challenged exhibitors to opt for interactivity when designing their booths. She also recommends using free Blue Sun Biodiesel-powered shuttles, which leave from various locations in town, to get to the fair; locals are encouraged to ride their bikes and make use of the site’s free valet service. And if you’re just visiting, she notes, you can borrow a bike from the FC Bike Library, at the Cafe Bicyclette, 19 Old Town Square (www.fcbikelibrary.org).
Find the fair at 720 East Vine Drive; admission is $5 (free for children under twelve). For details, go to www.sustainablelivingassociation.org/thefair or call 1-970-224-FAIR.
Sept. 20-21, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 2008
