43
Festival touts going green
By SEAN BARRON
YOUNGSTOWN
If you walked or drove by Wick Park on Saturday, it likely looked a bit greener than usual — the trees and grass notwithstanding.
That’s because under the canopy of trees was a canopy of tents, under which was a wealth of information about green jobs, opportunities and technologies.
All of it was the main thrust of Saturday’s third annual Grey to Green Festival, sponsored by the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative in the North Side park.
An estimated 50 vendors participated in the seven-hour gathering, the main purpose of which was to promote more environmentally friendly practices and focus on green jobs in the Mahoning Valley, noted Brooke Slanina, festival coordinator.
“We’re doing everything we can to promote the idea of sustainable grown foods,” said Sherry Linkon, a board member of Grow Youngstown, one of the vendors.
The 2-year-old organization is trying to make fresh, locally grown food easier to obtain for Youngstown and Warren residents. Grow Youngstown also runs a program that supports local farmers and allows low-income families to buy a share of a farm during the summer, Linkon noted as she gave away food combinations that included samples of heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, brown rice and zucchini.
Also on hand under Grow Youngstown’s tent were worm bins designed to convert food waste to compost, explained Lisa Lotze, board president.
People can add portions of egg shells, vegetables, fruits, soup and other unwanted foods to the bin, though they should avoid including meat and dairy products, Lotze cautioned.
Grow Youngstown also created the Fairgreen Neighborhood Garden, which covers about three city blocks off Ohio Avenue on the North Side. The garden is an educational experience for children and provides jobs for prison inmates, all of whom are among those who tend it, she continued, adding that it also has two 300-gallon water tanks to catch rainwater.
“There’s lots of areas in Youngstown that can be farmed,” Lotze said.
Dedicated to helping lots of local and other artists is the Calvin Center Idea Incubator, which got under way earlier this year.
A primary goal of the center is to make local theater more affordable for patrons and performers, empower area theater and offer a place for artists to get their start, explained Mary K. Farragher and Robert Dennick Joki, the center’s facilities manager and executive director of the Rust Belt Theater Co., respectively.
“We use a lot of recycled and salvaged materials,” Joki added.
Festivities also included entertainers performing in 15-minute increments, as well as scavenger hunts, yoga, educational games and other activities for children.
The festival was in conjunction with the Northside Farmers Market, which was set up at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1105 Elm St., across from the park.
Lining the front of the church were plenty of booths selling gourds for 50 cents apiece, pumpkins, organic tomatoes, peppers, green beans, garlic braids, corn, blueberries, pies and breads. Also for sale was a variety of kitchen items.
Many attendees received information about a shared-use kitchen incubator that’s to be in the former Penguin Pub building, 901 Elm St., and serve as a community commercial kitchen for culinary entrepreneurs, noted Deborah McCurdy, a member of Common Wealth Inc., a 24-year-old nonprofit organization that will run the kitchen.
Roughly 75 percent of small startup food-related businesses fail within the first year, largely because of a low customer base and high equipment and inventory expenses, said Jim Converse, the farmers market manager. Such a kitchen, which will be patterned after the Youngstown Business Incubator, will focus on jobs, in part by assisting bakers and commercial meal cooks initially, Converse explained.
It also will provide rental contracts between the Northeast Ohio Food Hub and food entrepreneurs, he said, adding that it is hoped the co-op kitchen will be open at year’s end or early 2011.
“Every year, the festival grows, which is a good sign,” Slanina said, referring to the number of vendors that have taken part each year.