SUSTAINABLY SUNNY. The First Annual Sustainable West Seattle Festival was a well attended event on Sunday May 4th. The festival featured environmentally oriented booths displays and speakers. Photo by Patrick Robinson

Sustainable Festival was a sunny success

By Steve Shay

Solar energy proved its power Sunday as it helped energize a large crowd at the First Annual Sustainable West Seattle Festival. The festival boasted more than 20 exhibitors of nearly 50 organizations and businesses promoting environmental sensitivity as well as a stage featuring speakers. Speakers included Sustainable Ballard's Vic Opperman, and neighborhood consultant, Jim Diers, who authored "Neighbor Power: Building Seattle the Community Way."

All were squeezed into the 10am-3pm time frame, and clustered by Wells Fargo Bank at the Alaska Junction across the street from the farmers market.

Dorothy Bosteder was on the fair coordinating council. She seemed delighted with the turnout. "This worked out great," she said while working the pavement clasping a pi–ata-sized bee on a tall pole. "It's a beautiful day, and amazing so many turned up for the first year. The event capitalized on the existing crowd for the Farmer's Market. Many here are ready to meet over the reality of the message. There are so many at the table to discuss sustainability."

Renae Gaines who heads a drug and alcohol prevention initiative at Madison School volunteered at the fair's hospitality booth. Said Gaines with a bit of embarrassment, "Instead of driving right across the street from where I live to the grocery store I'm going to walk."

Explorer West history and music teacher, Ben Wheeler, wrote some of the curriculum on sustainability with the nonprofit, Facing the Future, which is introduced to Seattle area students attending kindergarten through high school. He helped man the Explorer West booth with West Seattle High School student volunteers as well as his students.

"Those my age made the mess, as I see it, and it's up to these kids to enter the green economy and turn things around."

For more information visit their website at www.sustainablewestseattle.org.