[Peacectr_list] Green Expo to Highlight HOPE Festival in Orono

[Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine]

HOPE Festival to Celebrate Earth Day with Green Expo and Organizational Fair

Bangor --   More than 70 organizations  plan to participate in the 
l4th annual HOPE (Help Organize Peace Earthwide) Festival on April 
l9th from l0-4 p.m. at the Brewer Auditorium.  The first HOPE 
Festival was held in l995 and featured Helen Nearing, who with her 
husband Scott were leaders in the back-to-the-earth  homesteading 
movement.  A standing room only crowd listened to then 91 year old 
Helen Nearing urge "Live simply and frugally with an eye to the needs 
of the others to come." The HOPE Festival was designed to celebrate 
Earth Day and to honor those who care for  the environment, but 
broadened to  include  honoring and celebrating the variety of ways 
groups are working to meet the needs of their communities.  The 
highlight this  year, the 38th anniversary of Earth Day, the will be 
a Green Expo featuring smart solutions for cool communities.

People will be able to check out organizations and businesses sharing 
information about ways to live a sustainable lifestyle. There will be 
an electric car to  test drive.   The Maine Environmental Education 
Project will demonstrate miniature windmills and solar panels. The 
Maine Recycling office will share tips on recycling.  The Sierra Club 
will show films.  Other groups will include the  Bicycle Coalition, 
Maine Solar Energy Association and Maine Interfaith Power and Light. 
A food concession will include locally produced  specialty cheese, 
breads as well as hot dishes.  According to organizer Sandra Tardiff, 
"Supporting local farmers and businesses is a great way to reduce 
greenhouse emissions". 

Festival organizers  say living sustainably also  involves the caring 
work of many be  organizations.  According to Ilze Petersons, program 
coordinator for the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, which is 
sponsoring the HOPE Festival, celebrating the caring work and making 
connections is one of the purposes of the festival.  The festival 
will also include organizations such as Spruce Run and Rape Response 
Services working to end domestic violence as well as organizations 
such as the Orono Peace Group and P ICA (Peace through Interamerican 
Community Action) working for global peace.   "Organizing peace 
earthwide may seem ambitious, but we see each day how interconnected 
we are in the clothes we wear and the food we eat," said Petersons. 
"We see that actions and decisions   made here do have worldwide 
impact and decisions  made thousands of miles away impact us. 
Sometimes as individuals  we can feel powerless, but at the HOPE 
Festival, we can affirm the power of positive change efforts."

Petersons says the Festival is a celebration, but also a great way 
for people to find out how they can  support the work of these groups 
.Sandy Tardiff , a coordinator of the HOPE Festival points out that 
people need to get involved to make democracy work. "The HOPE 
Festival is a fun way to support  the caring  work being done  and to 
learn about  the many  ways you can  participate.   Whether its 
learning about the work of  the NAACP or the Eastern AIDS Network, 
There's something for everyone.  And thanks to volunteer efforts and 
sponsorships  its free." said Tardiff.

As people browse among the information tables, pick up buttons, 
bumper stickers and t-shirts, they will also be entertained by  the 
lively jazz of A-Train, the peaceful music of the U Maine Classsical 
Guitar Ensemble and international dance. Children and adults will 
enjoy  juggling with Zachary Field and the puppetry of Richard 
Merrill .

Since the first festival, speakers such as award winning novelist 
Carolyn Chute and nationally acclaimed  singer/songwriters such as 
Noel Paul Stookey and  David  Mallet have donated their time to the 
Festival.  They  have joined dancers, jazz musicians, steel drum 
bands, klezmer, folk, bluegrass, and storytellers  in entertaining 
more than l000  who attend the festival each year.  Many families 
have attended the festival bringing their children to enjoy a wide 
variety of environmental, nature and peace activities and 
entertainment and to sample the delicious healthy food on sale. 
Each year there has been a 5K fun run

Each spring the HOPE Festival renews the hope we all have for a 
peaceful and sustainable  future.

  Co-sponsors are the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, 
University of Maine Peace Studies, Cool Bangor, Maine Partners for 
Cool Communities, the Green Campus Initiative,  the Maine Peace 
Action Committee, University of Maine Women's Studies/Women in the 
Curriculum. 
-- 
The Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine
170 Park Street
Bangor ME 04401
(207) 942-9343
fax 992-2288
email: info at peacectr.org
check our website:  <http://www.peacectr.org/>www.peacectr.org
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