Port Gamble Sustainability Festival Involves Whole Community

Great Peninsula Future Festival
August 2-3, 2008, Port Gamble WA
Building a sustainable future—together.

NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gene Bullock, 360-394-5635; bullockg@earthlink.net

Port Gamble Sustainability Festival Involves Whole Community
Dozens of community organizations are involved in organizing a sustainability festival in historic Port Gamble, August 2-3. The outdoor festival will mix headline entertainment, live music, local food, hand-made crafts and a farmers market with exhibits, speakers and workshops focused on the theme of sustainability.
“We want to bring community leaders, environmentalists, educators, green business leaders and citizens together in a festival atmosphere to talk about sustainability,” said Kitsap County Commissioner Steve Bauer, who is spearheading the event planning. “We decided that learning how to live a greener lifestyle should be fun.”
“We want families to come for the fun and take away ideas they can use in their own neighborhoods and communities,” explained Bauer. “We’ll have lots of activities for kids, including clowns, magic, puppet shows, story tellers, jugglers, mask making, a walk-in mobile salmon and a trash art contest.”
The festival will feature dozens of entertainers on three stages, including such headline entertainers as the Flying Karamazov Brothers, jazz singing legend Alice Stuart, an internationally known clown, a magic show and many others.
How It All Started
The Great Peninsula Future Festival was inspired by a Kitsap community workshop last October led by Larry Seaquist (State Representative for the 26th District). Some 60 Kitsap community leaders gathered to brainstorm on strategies for achieving a sustainable Kitsap. The group included two mayors (Kim Abel, Darlene Kordonowy) two state legislators (Derek Kilmer, Larry Seaquist) and two Kitsap County commissioners (Steve Bauer, Josh Brown). The workshop was sponsored by West Sound Conservation Council, WSU-Kitsap Extension and Sustainable Bremerton.
Bauer was so impressed with the level of enthusiasm and interest in sustainability he wanted to find a way to build on the interest and involve the entire community. He talked about it with his sister, Sandra Bauer, who was one of the original organizers of the popular Oregon Country Fair.
By the end of the conversation, they had come up with the idea of organizing an annual sustainability festival. Dozens of Kitsap community leaders answered Steve’s invitation to form a festival planning council. Jon Rose of Olympic Property Group generously offered Port Gamble as the host site on a prime summer weekend, August 2-3.
The festival has since earned broad support among Kitsap business and community service organizations, as well as volunteer groups all across Kitsap County. Major sponsors include Kitsap County Commissioners Steve Bauer and Josh Brown; the Kitsap News Group family of newspapers, WSU-Kitsap Extension, Home Builders Association of Kitsap County, Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, Port Gamble (Olympic Property Group), Wet Apple Media (Kitsap Business Journal). Other sponsors include Puget Sound Energy, Port Madison Enterprises (Suquamish Tribal business unit), Town and Country Market, West Sound Utilities, Port of Bremerton Kitsap SEED, Kitsap County Solid Waste Division and Monty Mahan, candidate for SK County Commissioner.

Festival organizers include volunteers from Stillwaters Environmental Education Center, Kitsap Audubon Society, WSU-Kitsap Extension, Kitsap Community and Agricultural Alliance, Sustainable Bremerton, SCALLOPS (Sustainable Communities All Over Puget Sound), Washington State Farmers Market Association, Kitsap Conservation Voters, Poulsbo Farmers Market, Kitsap Citizens For Responsible Planning and New Old Time Chautauqua.

To learn how you can become involved, visit www.GreatPeninsulaFutureFestival.org.

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