Iron Range Earth Fest

The date is fast approaching! Read about all the details of Earth Fest 2010 in our up-to-date Program Guide and decide where you want to be on Saturday, April 17. You’ll find the schedule of all you’ll be able to do and see for the full day—speakers, vendors, exhibitors, kids’ activities, concert details and more!  

The night of Earth Fest, stick around for more festivities!

FREE ($5 donation suggested) concert with Pat Surface and the Boundary Water Boys from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at Merritt Elementary School. 

It will be fun for all ages! For music & more, check out Pat’s website at www.patsurface.com.

Four locations,  28 great presentations. Learn a skill, make your home more efficient, improve your garden, get some history, know your environment, prepare for the future—it’s all here this year at Iron Range Earth Fest. Check out the 2010 Earth Fest Speakers Schedule below and decide where Saturday, April 17 will take you!

Mt Iron Community Center—Community Room

10:00 – 10:45   Eating Locally in Northern MN – Maggie Montgomery / KAXE
11:00 – 11:45   Wild Rice 101 – 1854 Treaty Authority
12:00 – 12:45   Food Preservation – Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture
1:00 – 1:45   Container Gardening – Swanson’s Greenhouse
2:00 – 2:45   Working with Nature for Home Owners & Small Business – MPCA
3:00 – 3:45   Energy Efficiency in Your Home & Business – MN Power
4:00 – 4:45    History of Agriculture on Range – U of M NE MN Sustainable Development Partnership

Messiah Lutheran Church—Library

10:00 – 10:45   Environmental Justice – Marlise Riffel
11:00 – 11:45   Solar Energy 101 – Hibbing Community College
12:00 – 12:45   Wind Energy 101 – Mesabi Range Community & Technical College
1:00 – 1:45   Efficient Lighting – Sunny Day Earth Solutions
2:00 – 2:45   Beeting the Challenges of Gardening in Northern MN – Cherry Greenhouse
3:00 – 3:45   Raising Poultry – Fat Chicken Farm
4:00 – 4:45   SVO (straight veg oil) Car Conversions – Sunny Day Earth Solutions

Merritt Elementary – #1 (PT / OT Room)
10:00 – 10:45   Why Care? A Religious Approach – Congregations Caring for the Earth (CCE)
11:00 – 11:45   History & Future of Virginia Greenhouse – Friends of the Greenhouse
12:00 – 12:45   Environment & Scripture – MN Episcopal Environmental Stewardship
1:00 – 1:45   The Past is Future: History & Future of the Iron Range – Pam Brunfelt
2:00 – 2:45   How Can My Congregation be Part of the Solution? CCE
3:00 – 3:45   Bicycle Maintenance / Bikes as Transportation – Gustafson Bicycle Service
4:00 – 4:45   Energy Audits

 Merritt Elementary – #2 (Library)
10:00 – 10:45   Making a Rain Barrel – Green Gate Guest House
11:00 – 11:45   LEED Building – US Green Bldg Council / Headwaters Chapter
12:00 – 12:45   Common & Rare Plants on the Iron Range – MN DNR
1:00 – 1:45   Geothermal Heating – Nortemp Heating & Cooling
2:00 – 2:45   Plug-in Hybrid Cars & Trucks – Tim Wallace
3:00 – 3:45   Case Study on Green Building – Green Gate Guest House
4:00 – 4:45   High Efficiency Low Carbon Future – NE CERTs

How will you get to Iron Range Earth Fest this year? Spare the gas and parking hassles and choose one of three ride-sharing options to enjoy the festivities:

·         FREE shuttle bus service provided by Arrowhead Transit from 4 sites in Virginia to Earth Fest and the Mesabi Family YMCA Healthy Kids Day. Check out the Arrowhead Transit Shuttle schedule.
 
·         FREE shuttle van service provided by the Holiday Inn Express & Suites between the 3 venues at Earth Fest – Mt Iron Community Center, Messiah Lutheran Church, and Merritt Elementary School, as well as to and from overflow parking at the Holiday Inn parking lot across the highway from Earth Fest. 
               
·         Old fashioned horse & wagon transportation provided by Windy Hill Farms between Mt Iron Community Center, Messiah Lutheran Church and Merritt Elementary School – $1 per ride.

Get to the fest early and win a prize! We will be giving away copies of the Do it Green! Magazine to the first 200 families who attend Earth Fest, compliments of No. St Louis Soil & Water Conservation District and the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability.

Do It Green! Magazine is a guidebook for living green in Minnesota.

Do It Green! Minnesota is a non-profit organization with a mission to educate and motivate Minnesotans to live greener, more sustainably and to help build healthy communities.

To learn more about living green in Minnesota visit www.doitgreen.org.

Did you catch the latest edition of Hometown Focus? Curious to know more about what’s in store for Earth Fest 2010?  Stay tuned for the most up-to-date schedule. And look for our Iron Range Earth Fest poster all around town!

Saturday, April 17, 2010:

9 a.m. – 5 p.m.     Exhibitors, Speakers, Vendors at all three venues

10 a.m. – 5 p.m.     Food served by Natural Harvest Food Co-op at Mt Iron Community Center

10 a.m. – 5 p.m.     Youth activities

11 a.m. – 2 p.m.     YMCA Healthy Kids Day

5:30 p.m.     Concert with Pat Surface and the Boundary Water Boys at Merritt Elementary School

FREE CONCERT – $5 donation suggested  

Transportation: (stay tuned to this website for schedules)

            FREE shuttle bus all day from various locations in Virginia compliments of Arrowhead Transit  

            Shuttle van all day at Earth Fest sites compliments of Holiday Inn Express & Suites.

2010 Exhibitors, Speakers, Vendors 

(Watch for more coming!)

1854 Treaty Authority • AEOA • Big Timber Coffee • Boreal Natives • Jo & Bruce Bjerke—master gardeners • NE CERTs • Cherry Greenhouse • Conservation Technologies • Cook Area Farmers Market • DNR Ecological Resources Division • DNR Waters Division • Echo North Massage • ECO (Environmentally Conscious Options) • Energy Efficient Ely • Fat Chicken Farm • Gilley’s Naturals • Gone 2 Green Wind Energy • Gustafson Bicycle Service • Habitat for Humanity (No St Louis & Itasca) • Hometown Focus • Iron Range Labor Assembly • Iron Range Resources – tree seedling give away • KAXE • Kunnari’s Farmers Market • Laurentian Environmental Center • Mark’s Country Market • Menart Forge • Mesaba Park • Mesabi Recreation • Mesabi Trail • Midwest Renewable Energy Association • MN Episcopal Environmental Stewardship • MN Institute for Sustainable Agriculture • Minnesota Pollution Control Agency • Minnesota Power • Natural Harvest Food Co-op • Natural Resources Conservation Service • NE CERTS • North Country Heating, Cooling & Refrigeration • Northeast Higher Education • NE MN Sustainable Development Partnership • Northland Electric Services • No St Louis Soil & Water Conservation District • Piragis • Range Fiber Arts Guild • Renewable & Sustainable Solutions • Rice River Lamb Company • St Louis County Environmental Services • Sherwin Williams • Virginia Greenhouse • Virginia Historical Society • Virginia Sustainability Task Force

Topics of Presentation

 Sustainable Communities

• Local Traditions:  Storing and preserving food • Wild rice • Fiber arts – spinning, weaving, knitting • Blacksmithing • History of agriculture in our region • We call it sustainability, our ancestors called it survival
• What are our communities doing? Community Colleges • Faith Based Creation Care • Virginia Green House • Energy Efficient Ely
• Health:  Reiki • Myofacial Release Therapy • Chair Massage

Sustainable Economy

• Energy  Efficiency
• Renewable Energy (wind, solar, geothermal)
• Green jobs – Iron Range Labor Assembly
• Local Vendors: “Green” products • Making your home energy efficient • Locally produced foods

  Sustainable Environment

• Sustainable Agriculture: Gardening • Composting • Making a rain barrel • Buying locally produced foods 
• Protecting our Environment: Hybrid cars • Minnesota Pollution Control Agency • Recycling • Hazardous waste management    

Youth Activities

• Green Inventors Contest
• Concerts with the Okee Dokee Brothers
• Puppet shows
• Jeopardy
• Energy projects
• YMCA Healthy Kids Day

At a meeting of the Earth Fest committee for the 2009, a high school junior named Devon came to the meeting with an idea to have a contest on inventions that would promote sustainability.  We did not have time or resources to pull that great idea off last year, but this year we started our planning early.  Iron Range Earth Fest 2010 is proud to host the first annual “Green Inventors Contest.”  Now we are looking for students to share their ideas on how we can make planet earth more sustainable through new gadgets, changing habits, improving old ways or a myriad of other creative ideas.

The contest will be broken into three age brackets, grades 4-6, grades 7-8 and grades 9-12.  Prizes will be awarded to the top three inventions for each age bracket and all participants will receive a certificate of completion.  Judging will occur at the Iron Range Earth Fest on April 17, 2010.  For a complete registration packet and guideline sheet, simply download the PDF file attached here.  Green Inventor Contest

If you are not an inventor, please come and support our youth in their efforts to make a difference.  All the inventions will be on display from 9-5 at the Merritt Elementary School as part of the Iron Range Earth Fest on April 17th.  See you there.

 Show the love and become a fan of Iron Range Earth Fest on Facebook. You’ll be able to keep up with all the latest updates and info about the April 17 celebration!

Clean, green students, listen up. Do you see a way to make the earth a better place? Solve an environmental problem or improve an existing design, and enter your green innovation into the Earth Fest contest.

Entries from individuals or pairs will be accepted from grades 4-12. All entries will be judged at Earth Fest. Read more about it in our Green_Inventor_Contest, and get busy creating!

Are you interested in becoming an Exhibitor, Speaker or Vendor in this year’s festival? Submit this application by February 28 and represent  the richness of Iron Range sustainability on April 17!