Growing green
with envy

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

The Urban Green Partnership wants you to know that being green can be easy.
On Sunday, the non-profit group will help thousands give Mother Nature some more TLC with GreenFest Philly. The free festival takes place on South Street, between Seventh and 11th streets, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This is the second year the environmentally friendly folks at UGP, founded by aerospace engineer JJ Biel-Goebel, are holding the event.
"Our focus really is to make becoming environmentally friendly as cheap and convenient as possible for everyone," he said.
Festival producer Jen Bendik said GreenFest offers something for everyone, whether they’re already living the green life by recycling and eating organic or they’re a local who’s craving something outdoorsy to do.
"The average person with little or no knowledge can leave with a wealth of knowledge," said Bendik, who has helped produce other local events like the Philadelphia Film Festival and Eastern State Penitentiary’s Terror Behind the Walls.
While she describes last year’s event as more of a "block party," this weekend’s festivities include four blocks of Earth-conscious vendors, workshops, performances, art and even a green wedding.
Using the tagline Save the Planet. Save Money. Save the Date, GreenFest will feature more than 100 exhibitors, including Garbage of Eden, which turns "upcycled" plastic items into jewelry and accessories, and White Dog Community Enterprises, which encourages support of local business and farming. Other participants include the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia Alliance for Environmental Justice and Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future.
Of the many attractions, some of the more unique include the SO RE FA (Socially Responsible Fashion) fashion show, featuring designers from around the country; the Green Building Speakers Symposium, hosted by architects and builders; and Musecology, a concert with local green bands like Cowmuddy and The Mighty Paradocs.
There’s also plenty for the kids, including an opportunity to feed livestock, ride an energy bike, catch a puppet show, enter an organic pie-eating contest, or watch a local artist make a sculpture of William Penn out of fruit.
While the event is 100 percent to raise awareness and have fun, guests also can do their environmental duty by bringing cans and bottles, old batteries and cell phones to be recycled.
UGP pegged South Street as the event locale for its already offbeat offering of shops and street life.
"We would like to see a positive festival, a positive vibe brought to South Street," Bendik said. "It just has so many wonderful little spots that don’t exist on one street in other parts of the city."
Bendik says Philly still has a way to go before it’s sufficiently green. She points to the city’s fractured recycling program that calls for certain neighborhoods to recycle certain things in certain containers on certain days.
The organizer says residents can stay green all year long by purchasing environmentally friendly lightbulbs or refusing bags at the market or store if they’re only buying a few easy-to-carry items.
UGP plans to unveil two other projects in coming months, said Biel-Goebel. The first is a completely green house that will collect data on different green products and methods. The other is Eco-Nexus, which will include posting green-related information on a Web site so that consumers can find resources and get their questions answered.
Biel-Goebel expects more than 10,000 to turn out for GreenFest. The group thanks the local businesses and groups who were open to committing a whole day to praising and raising awareness of the benefits of going green.
"With this festival, people are so passionate about being environmentally friendly, it’s just refreshing," Bendik said. ••
If you’re interested in volunteering for GreenFest, e-mail greenfest@urbangreenpartnership.org
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com