The Green Festival, 2009
The second annual Green Festival will happen this summer in Leazes Park, in the city of Newcastle, during the second week end of June. This has been termed the event to watch for spring by the BBC and with its short history has become well known for family fun and celebration. Organized events such as story telling hours or face painting and other artistic activities happen throughout the weekend in the Park. This year there will be carnival rides and a billboard painting lesson, wherein the children are given high powered spray guns filled with paint. Along with the exciting activities planned, a new element will be added this summer. That element is centered around the theme of sensory play. Various forms of art therapy, including music and painting and drawing, will be taking place as well as lectures for families concerning travel safety and streets that are safe for those riding their bicycles or walking around the different city streets. The lectures are participatory in nature, involving important lessons to be actively learned while participating in board games. Life sized board games in which the participants are the pieces.
Seminars and activities more interesting perhaps for the adults, will be presented and offered in the business and New Castle hotel and restaurant district. There will be a premier fashion show, hi-lighting and promoting ethical and earth friendly clothes and accessories. Craft classes will also be offered, everything from making jewelry to hats and satchels, to the creation of a more eco-friendly home through the use of wind powered generators and solar panels. The efficiency and power of solar panels demonstrated by a film festival in a theater generating their power from said solar panels. And along with the movies, three separate stages will feature the very best of live musical performances. The Center for Alternative Technology will also be providing discussion groups and panels to further educate the public on the value of, the perks of and the necessity of sustaining energy and protecting the environment. And at the end of the day, bicycle peddlers will offer smoothies and refreshments made with organic ingredients obtained from self sufficient farms. As in many countries throughout the world today, including Spain and the United States, festivals of this nature, for nature, are gaining in popularity as the need for the impact societies are having on the environment is becoming something that all the people, in all regions, must become aware of.