Coming Together to Think Green: Olmsted County’s Think Green Fair

Imagine the Minnesota State Fair’s agriculture building with delicious, candy red apples, amazing corn art, and great exhibits with engaging people. Now condense the event into a single day focused exclusively on sustainability. What do you get? The Olmsted County Think Green Fair!

Rochester, located in Olmsted County, has hosted the Think Green Fair since 2008—first as an addition to Rochester Women’s Expo, and now as it’s own popular annual event. Last year’s June 26th, 2010 fair was its first time as a standalone event held at Olmsted County Fairgrounds, which had 65 vendors, 20 presentations and demonstrations, and over 1,500 people in attendance.

Needless to say, an event of this scale requires the leadership of a large, committed body of people to coordinate such a large effort. At the helm of this project were Terry Lee, Olmsted County’s Environmental Services coordinator and the Fair’s program manager; Jack Stansfield, the county’s Waste Reduction Specialist; and Caitlin Meyer, a GreenCorps Living Green Outreach Specialist. Another instrumental organization, besides Olmsted County and the MN GreenCorps, involved in planning and executing this project was RNeighbors, a Rochester neighborhood organization who “helped develop extensive community support and awareness, and provided professional and technical work,” said Terry Lee.

The Fair’s mission is “to provide public education and outreach about supporting the development of renewable energy, conserving water, expanding green purchasing, and supporting local and/or organic food.” The fair also encourages individuals to take action in their daily lives, whether it is at home, work, or on a farm.

The Fair aims to educate about and provide resources for clean energy, and supports Minnesota’s goals as a state to reduce energy use by 25% by 2025; increase renewable energy use to 25% by 2025; reduce greenhouse gas emission by 80% by 2050; reduce waste generated in homes and workplaces; and have a positive impact on the surrounding environment through these efforts.

The notable aspect of the Think Green Fair was the way local government, private businesses, and neighborhood organizations came together to put together a monumental, successful project. Demonstrations and presentations showed attendees how they could reduce waste—food, energy, water, and resource-wise—in their homes. They had a Farmer’s Market and Artisan booths, featuring displays, demonstrations, and environmentallyconscious products. A special focus on kids sought to engage visitors of all ages. Vendors promoted their green and sustainable products and talked with interested folks about the transition to becoming a more environmentally-friendly household.

All in all, the event was a huge success, though it wasn’t without its difficulties. Terry Lee made the following suggestions to improve the next Think Green Fair, which is happening up April 16th, 2011:

• Hold the event earlier in the year, so farmers have the opportunity to implement greener practices at the start of the growing season.
• Schedule a shorter program time slot for organizational reasons.
• Limit the number of demonstrations and presentations to 6-10 to give presenters ample time to present and take questions.
• Developing a more compact venue layout for organizational reasons.

Implementing these suggestions will make the project more manageable, and with this year’s fair coming up around the corner, and the suggestions implemented in this year’s fair will make it a bigger success.

Funding support for such a large project had to come from several sources. The Think Green Fair received a grant from the SE CERT that was used to help with event planning and advertisement design to promote the fair. Other sources of revenue were Olmsted County, GreenCorps, sponsors, and booth sales. According to Terry Lee, “Being able to tell potential participants that we had secured a CERTs grant provided the project greater credibility in the early planning stages. It also provided some certainty in developing the initial budget, which was particularly helpful for the steering committee members.”

The Think Green Fair is an exemplary example of a community banding together create a sustainable, clean, green community. The benefit of having a fair dedicated to sustainability and “going green” is that it allows people to think and reflect on how they can make changes in their own lives.

For more information, contact Terry Lee at Olmsted County Environmental Services by emailing Lee.terry@co.olmsted.mn.us or call 507-328-6723.