Going Green Is Theme of Festival at Hartwood Acres

A world of recycling, rain gardens and organic foods will be at your fingertips Saturday as simple ways to live a green and sustainable lifestyle go on display at Hartwood Acres.

The second annual Allegheny Green & Innovation Festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the 629-acre park in Hampton and Indiana townships. 

The festival is part of Allegheny County’s efforts to introduce green and sustainable practices that people can incorporate into their everyday lives, according to Darla Cravotta, special projects coordinator for the event.

“Many people think you have to undertake large projects or make huge changes in their lives, but [they] want to introduce little changes they can make right away and easily, along with maybe some of those larger ones,” she said.

The county expects more than 80 vendors who will provide information on topics such as recycling, rain gardens, biking, watersheds and organic foods.

More than 3,000 people attended the first Green & Innovation Festival last year, according to Cravotta.

“We expect to double our numbers this year because it is later in the year, and we are hosting it in conjunction with Hay Day, a family event,” she said.

Kid-friendly Hay Day activities will be held at the park's amphitheater.

The Green Festival also will have a children’s activities tent and feature sponsors such as Reuse-a-palooza by Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse and The Carnegie Science Center “Science on the Road.”

“Last year, the [Carnegie] Science Center made ice cream from nitrogen, and the kids loved it,” said Cravotta.

Cravotta said organizers moved the date of the festival to September with hopes that schools would encourage families and students to attend.

Chatham University will sponsor a sustainable food challenge where local vendors will serve local and organic foods and Carnegie Mellon University will attend with its “Hear Me” project, said Cravotta.

“I Made It” Pittsburgh, an organization of crafters who often use recycled items in their products, will be back again this year and the petting zoo will make a return appearance.

Also slated to attend the festival are:

The Three Rivers Rain Garden Alliance to provide information on developing rain gardens and using native plants in landscaping;

Duquesne Light to distribute energy conservation kits;

ACTION-Housing to talk about weatherization; and  

3 Rivers Wet Weather to provide information on watersheds and wet-weather issues.

In addition to providing information, the festival will serve as a site for collection and donation drives.

“For example, the Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project collects those reusable tote bags that are so common now and are used by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to distribute food,” said Cravotta.

Those seeking donations include: 

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank will collect non-perishable food items;

The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project will collect reusable tote bags; 

Green Grandma will collect hard-to-recycle plastic tops from things such as plastic water bottles; 

Grejda Electric will collect burnt-out compact fluorescent light bulbs;

Global Links will collect new or gently used medical items, including crutches, canes, non-motorized wheelchairs, shower chairs, nebulizers, and collapsible walkers. It also is collecting unused, unexpired and unopened medical supplies, such as bandages, gauze, gloves and diapers.

“Global Links is such a great organization and I know we have two pairs of crutches that we don’t use, but you hate to throw them out,” explained Cravotta. “Knowing that they donate them to places that can use them is wonderful.”

Hay Day activities include face painting, a magician, pumpkin painting, balloon artists and, of course, hayrides.

“There will be plenty of things to keep everyone busy,” said Cravotta.

For details, visit http://www.alleghenycounty.us/GreenFestival/index.aspx

Follow the festival on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ACGreenFest and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AC_GreenFest