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Green Festival 'Closes' the Concourse This Weekend

The Nation's top sustainability event built its legacy in 12 Years at 8th & Brannan

Green Festival 'Closes' the Concourse This Weekend

The Nation's top sustainability event built its legacy in 12 Years at 8th & Brannan

Published 11-08-13

Submitted by Green Festival

The Twelfth Annual Green Festival, which opens it doors tomorrow at 10:00 AM, today announced that its last show at the Concourse Exhibition Center will be the largest in its history.

“We reached 376 booths today,” said Green Festival President Georgia Malki. “This will be the biggest show we’ve ever done anywhere, and it is a great way to pay tribute to a building we’ve called home for over a decade.” The event will move to Ft. Mason next November because of the closing of the Concourse early next year.

The event and its unique partnerships with two major national not-for-profits, Green America (www.greenamerica.org) and Global Exchange (www.globalexchange.org), has set the standard for helping the public source anything sustainable , whether it be coffee beans, designer shoes or gardening products. Many of its sponsors grew up right alongside the event – brands like Clif Bar and Sambazon were young companies on the rise when the event first launched – and sustainability has gradually become widely accepted by much of the country’s population. Green Festival (www.greenfestivals.org), which is based in Asheville, NC, has produced shows in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle and Denver, and now routinely gets calls from cities all over the country wanting the producers to bring Green Festival to town.

“We really developed the model for the show that we bring to the other cities on our schedule here (in San Francisco),” said Malki. “This show starts trends, and often proves the viability of many ‘green’ products that might have seemed like iffy bets. We’ve often served as an incubator for new green businesses that essentially test new ideas with us first.”

The show has also supported the growth and development of its main non-profit partners, Green America and Global Exchange, in areas such as marketing, PR, membership development and service – many attendees join these organizations at the event and all members get in free to all of the events – and other organizations, such as noted activist Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now, which has also grown to a position of major influence in the last decade (and also seen Goodman become a major nationally-syndicated radio talk show host) partially because of its connection to Green Festival.

“Green Festival has been an extraordinary tool for us,” said Green America Director Denise Hamler, whose organization is based in Washington, DC. “It gives us a vehicle to bring our message to major cities around the country, and to connect in very meaningful ways with our friends and allies doing important work on a wide range of issues.”

Green America’s business members are all “screened and vetted” through a process that has become trusted by the media, business and the activist community, and this same standard is applied to the many businesses that exhibit in the event. Malki and Hamler both acknowledge that from the beginning, this made the event unique and separated it from other more traditional trade show style competitors, many of whom have disappeared while Green Festival continues to grow.

“Simply put, Green Festival is the best place you can go to learn how to source almost anything sustainable,” said Green Festival President Georgia Malki. “We’ve focused our programming and exhibits in five main areas: healthy foods and cooking, green family and kids’ interests and products, sustainable home and garden, eco-fashion and natural health and fitness, which is why we expanded our Yoga Pavilion and Good Food Stage programming this year.”

Keynote speakers include Activist Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!), Actor Raphael Sbarge (“Once Upon A Time”), John Trudell (author, poet and actor known for helping to organize the Native American takeover of Alcatraz in 1969), and other leading environmental, healthy lifestyle and social justice advocates. Jerry James Stone of “Cooking Stoned TV” (www.cookingstoned.tv), East Bay Chef/Baker Mani Niall (also Michael Jackson’s personal chef for two years of touring after “Thriller” was released) and Joe McKinnon (the founder of Numi Tea) headline at the increasingly popular food and cooking portion of the program, which centers around a full slate of programming on the Good Food Stage.

Other event highlights include the Ford Ride & Drive (known as the “Go Further Tour”), where attendees can test drive the latest in Ford’s line of hybrid and electric vehicles. Featured vehicles include the Focus Electric, C-MAX Hybrid, C-MAX Energi, Fusion Hybrid, Fusion Energi, and the Escape with EcoBoost.

Other features include the Green Kids Zone, two Do-It-Yourself (DIY) stages with hands-on workshops, the Green Kids Zone, green business seminars, the Sustainable Beer & Wine Garden, Organic Food Court, fair trade resources, and the Sierra Club Green Film Showcase.

Eco-friendly fashion will be well-represented by Eric Coly of Le Dessein (www.ledessien.com), who will present a cutting edge fashion show at the event. The show always now ends with a closing concert, this year featuring the Dogon Lights, the Bay Area’s legendary psychedelic afro-fusion band (www.dogonlights.com) at 4:00 PM on Sunday.

FORD Motor Company and Green Festivals have partnered again to fund a $5,000 Community Green Grant at San Francisco Green Festival. Finalists will be published online and attendees can to vote for their favorite non-profit project in the week leading up to the festival, and at the FORD Community Green Grant Booth during show hours.

Key partners and sponsors include: Messe Stuttgart, Ford Motor Company, Ford Community Green Grants, KPIX/CBS 5, Alice FM, Safeway’s O’Organics, SF Weekly, Comcast Spotlight, Bright Green, Clif Bar and Yelp SF.

The 2013 San Francisco Green Festival will be held at the Concourse Exhibition Center, 8th & Brannan, San Francisco. Hours are Saturday, November 9th 10 AM – 6 PM and Sunday, October 10th, 11 AM-5 PM.

Tickets are $10 for a one day pass and $20 for a full weekend pass when purchased online at www.greenfestivals.org, or $15 and $25 at the door. (All tickets provide access to exhibit floor, all workshops/yoga classes, speakers and films.) Free admission for anyone who rides a bike to the event and parks with the Clif Bar bike valet, youth under eighteen, union members, volunteers and Green America and Global Exchange members.

For more information, please visit www.GreenFestivals.org. To exhibit, please call: 828-333-9403 x 300.

For partnership information, visit www.greenfestivals.org/become-a-partner.

About Messe Stuttgart
In August 2013, Green America, Global Exchange, and Green Festival united in partnership with Messe Stuttgart, a leading international trade show organizer producing Europe’s largest consumer shows on sustainability, green products and Fair Trade. This partnership production of Green Festivals in New York City; Chicago; Washington, DC; Los Angeles; and San Francisco will allow the Green Festivals to reach more Americans with green living education and green consumer products.

About Green America
Green America is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1982, providing the economic strategies, organizing power and practicing tools for businesses and individuals to address today’s social and environmental problems. Its Green Business Network is the largest national network of businesses screened for their social and environmental responsibility.

About Global Exchange
Global Exchange is a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. Since its founding in 1988, Global Exchange has successfully increased public awareness of root causes of injustice while building international partnerships and mobilizing for change.

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Green Festival

Green Festival

Green Festival is a celebration of what is working in our communities and what is possible today. It's a gathering of more than 30,000 people with a passion for social justice, ecological balance and a sustainable economy. Whether you want to learn something new from one of our 125 visionary speakers, shop the Green Marketplace for new eco-friendly products, sample local food and wine or introduce your kids to the fun of a green lifestyle in the Green Kids Zone, Green Festival has something for everyone. www.greenfestivals.org

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