This Saturday marks the 32nd annual Lake Superior Harvest Festival. On September 12th from 10am-4pm, Bayfront Park in Duluth will be filled with food vendors, artists, farmers, and much more.
With all of the activities expected at this year's festival, the gathering remains - as it has for many years - zero waste. "If you can deal with the waste of whatever your business is and turn it into a biproduct, then you have a sustainable business," says Julie Allen, Chapter Manager for the Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association. "At an event, there's no reason we should have overflowing dumpsters of trash going into the landfill." The festival accomplishes this by requiring vendors to use BPI certified compostable service ware.
Buying produce and other commodities from the local farmers and merchants is also a way of minimizing environmental impact. "There's going to be 46 vendors, that's the biggest ever in our 32 years" says Allen. With fewer steps between the food coming from the ground and getting into the hands of patrons means less energy lost in transportation and storage, as well as more money going directly to the farmers.
Additionally, the event includes an Energy Fair hosted by Ecolibrium3 and supported by Minnesota Power. "You're going to find lots of info about going solar... owning an electric vehicle or having an energy audit done to your house," says Allen.
More information about the Lake Superior Harvest Festival can be found online on the Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association website.
You can hear Green Visions at 8:20am every Wednesday on Northland Morning.
