PORT TOWNSEND — After a one-year absence, a local Earth Day celebration has returned with renewed energy for the presentation of renewable resources.
About 20 vendors will display their wares from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the Solar Motive parking lot, located across from Safeway on Sims Way in Port Townsend.
Demonstrations of renewable technologies such as electric bikes, solar cooking, hydrogen generation and carbon footprinting will be presented alongside family-friendly activities like face painting, a scavenger hunt and renewable energy bingo.
“The purpose is to educate people and empower them with the knowledge they need in order to change their behavior,” said educational consultant Josh Moman, while he prepared a solar-powered cooker to be demonstrated at the event.
“We want to give them a place to join together in a place where they can share ideas,” he said.
Live music from Daniel Macke and friends is planned, as is the screening of an eco-documentary, and several chances to win solar panels and other items. Door prizes will be handed out every hour.
The event was not held in 2009, and was organized this year by a new group.
Sponsors expect several hundred people to attend.
The sponsors of the event are requesting a $5 donation for each adult, in order to cover expenses.
Craig Sparks, who is running the solar cooker demonstration, said a past Earth Day event motivated him to move to Port Townsend.
“My first trip here four years ago was during an Earth Day celebration when I was living on the Long Beach Peninsula,” Sparks said.
“I told myself that I could live here, because these people really get it.”
Sparks, 60, remembers the first Earth Day event in 1970.
“Earth Day began as an anti-nuclear event and later evolved into a celebration of everything green,” he said.
Sparks will demonstrate a solar cooker, a 6-foot dish covered in tin foil that focuses the heat into a 350-degree cook point.
Unlike thermal technologies, the sun needs to be out in order for this to work.
Alternative energy sources have often required a premium, but recent economic hardships have benefited the category as a business, according to Solar Motives owner Kirk Doray.
“The economical crash has been a good thing for the solar business,” Doray said.
“People are looking for a way to take control of their own energy consumption in an efficient way.”
Doray said high energy costs prompt people to seek alternative solutions, which have seen a significant decrease in cost in recent years.
“It’s wrong that some people are faced with a $300 monthly utility bill and are forced to live from paycheck to paycheck as a result,” he said.
“People need to know they can handle their energy needs any way they want,” he said. “There is nothing that requires them to buy power from utility companies.”
Doray said that electricity has been harnessed for mass consumption for about 150 years, which is only a fraction of the human timeline.
“The sun shines for everyone,” he said. “And everyone is entitled to the energy it creates.”
For more information, e-mail Brigid Strait at brigid.strait@gmail.com or phone 360-385-7477.
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Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
