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Planning Underway for Boston GreenFest

logo for Boston GreenfestMark the date.

Planners and volunteers met yesterday to brainstorm for this year’s annual Boston GreenFest, a celebration and education of all things environmental. The fair at City Hall Plaza, which will take place Friday and Saturday this August 21 and 22, includes hundreds of exhibitors and sponsors and promises to be the greenest and fullest showing yet for the Massachusetts festival.

Bright, abundant sunshine and strong winds pervaded the city during the late-morning meeting, natural resources that seemed good omens for the summer festival and that will undoubtedly be featured in solar and wind power exhibits there.

The informal Boston GreenFest committee, comprised of occupations and talents as varied as insurance professional, fundraiser, student and community activist, discussed the character and message of the event, as well as its participants.

“The broadest scope possible is the answer,” said Dr. Karen Weber. “We believe the message has to get out in the broadest sense possible.”

Weber heads Foundation for a Green Future, the organization hosting Boston GreenFest.

That wide net, the committee agreed, should seek to attract and engage those of all ages and backgrounds, including communities outside city limits. Even visitors and tourists to Beantown, those who have come to experience Boston’s historic past, will through the festival appreciate the city’s role in a greener future.

Another focus of the meeting is the role, if any, certain sponsors and businesses should play in the event. There are, of course those solidly in the green column – the tried and true green businesses and groups whose mission or profit motive stems from a strong sense of social responsibility in protecting the environment. Then there are the antagonists in the other column, those who here shall not be named. The gray organizations in the middle of the spectrum were the subject of the debate, those that may have traditionally been targets of environmentalists, but have taken steps toward greener pastures.

But Weber said these gray groups would have a place at the green table of the festival, as education and the changing of bad practices is among the core missions of Boston GreenFest.

“We want them there,” said Weber. “We want them to learn what they’re doing that’s not good.”

One comment
  1. Karen Weber

    Hi!

    This is a cool blog! Just want to let people know that we really are looking to be as positive as possible with Boston GreenFest and that we hope companies that come to GreenFest will have an opportunity to learn new ways of doing things more sustainably, and they will have a chance to interface with the public, new green ideas and a host of resources to help make that happen. We are in this together!

    Look forward to seeing everyone on Aug. 21-22 at Boston City Hall Plaza…

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