I attended the Chicago Green Festival Kickoff Gala on May 21, 2001 at the Marom Grand. This event was excellent. I enjoyed dressing up for the gala and tasting the delicious food from many local green restaurants. These included City Provisions, Dawali, Fig, Lula cafe and sweets from XoXo. I also liked meeting the ladies from Allyu spa. Including the Palo Santo aromatic incense with their card was a nice touch. The gala was nicely organized starting from the blow up screen projector to the group of young men that came by and picked up our plates, cups and forks for recycling. I enjoyed the talk given by Dr. Kevin Danaher on global and local sustainability and appreciate his zeal to bring little bit of San Francisco to Chicago. I also enjoyed Blanca's Alexander candid talk about what inspired her in her life to become an advocate for conscious living. Nonetheless I did see the bar pass some plastic water bottles read more

Chicago Green Festival - Mindful Metropolis Green Festival Gala - Local Flavor Near Me

For some reason I was under the illusion that I had written a review for this festival, at least in 2008. I remember attending that one and liking it. I would have rated it 5 stars. Lots of good green content to fill your mind and soul with. I learned much about new vendors offering innovative technologies to assist in daily household living from a green standpoint as well as advances in alternate sources of power. Information wise and through photos and other marketing, there was much to see. Now in 2012, there wasn't much. Maybe my expectations for it were set too high. I recently returned from living on the West coast. For those that don't know, in many areas of California people are trying their best to be green. Whether they want to do it for the good of the earth, to feel better about doing or get some kudos from all the green loving people, businesses and consumers alike are trying. Upon return back to Chicagoland, I had hoped for more out of Green fest. Instead, there was a ton of marketing for the Ford motor company. As well as these random people that wouldn't divulge who they were with but asking if you would participate in surveys. Jaik S. mentioned if you see anyone's foot touch the carpet where Ford was displayed, someone would eventually ask you to take a survey. Green shit in the sense of the word green. Like vegan food, green vegetable smoothies and living with more greens in your diet. Really? That's all. A few foo foo stores which offer organic products. I didn't connect with any of the content and couldn't find anything that grabbed my attention. Maybe a few vendors. There was one vendor I found pretty funny. It was something like "Green singles dot com". We aren't talking about clean dollar bills, folks. One vendor sold recycled glass for use in homes. When asked what was the difference between their product and Home Depot the guy responded.."Do you want crap or high quality?". What a silly salesperson. Please don't come out to a festival if you can't explain to me benefits of your product and how and why your company claims to be green. I researched the company and later discovered they import granite from Italy and in manufacturing plants here in the U.S. use glass from recycled beer bottles, glass containers, etc to give their granite countertops a more interesting look. In 2008 I spent the whole day at the festival. In 2012, I walked the entire festival in an hour or less. I think we spent the most time in the beer & mead garden. Which by the way, happened to be the most popular area. The largest number of people stood in a tiny 20' x 20' space. Ideas for future Green Fests from Jacob - If Ford or any other car maker decides to be a big contributor to this again, have them show data on fuel efficiency for their new line of alternative energy running automobiles. What to expect for the future of the brand. What new innovative technology they are working towards. Plans for moving towards creating more efficient types of transportation. The savings a person can expect from going to a green vehicle, etc. Passing out free samples of gluten free nachos with salsa or packs of organic popcorn is fine for the average festival attendee, but not everyone. I desire information. Or what is Ford doing for the environment beyond offering green vehicles ? - Alike this, there are companies around the Midwest which currently offer biofuels. How about someone talking about alternative fuels for different kinds of vehicles. I.e. diesel, electric, NGV (natural gas vehicle), bio-diesel. Where can a person find fueling stations, or get reps here from those stations. Map fliers which indicate where in Chicagoland these resources can be found. - Chicago has green roofs, what are people planting up there and where can we find more information about doing it. Are there Chicagoland companies which offer service to get you started, etc? What are current issues concerned folks are working on for the advancement of a Greener Chicago ? At one point a year or more ago I heard something about the possibility of petroleum based plastic bags not being used any longer in Chicago supermarkets, is that real or fake? I realize for some this might have been an eye opener. Every year more people are waking up and realizing how to recycle or searching for greener ways of operating their everyday life. For those this festival is probably a source of information but for someone already doing their part but wanting a bit more, well I hope next years festival is better. read more

Chicago Green Festival - Mead. http://www.wildblossomwines.com/ - Local Flavor Near Me

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I went to this - great speakers, Greg Palast, Amy Goodman and Medea Benjamin (my new pal!). That was the best part. The friend that went with me was v. amused when I ate 100% vegan food, and liked it. Also amusing. The vendors. Hmm, "Green" is the new "Consumerism", eh? I must be really Green 'cos I didn't need any of that crap. read more

If there was one word that could describe how I felt after I was done volunteering at the Green Festival--it would be empowerment. In the four hours that I worked the "Green Team" I felt like I made a difference to Chicago. Yes. A big difference. The "Green Team" was resource recylcing stations, which are better known as trash sites. For four hours my brother and I placed on garbage gloves, and helped people throw away their trash. We were educating them on how to properly recycle. It was so crazy that so much of what people thought they had to throw away could be made into compost! All the vendors in the festival were told they had to use 100% compostable cups, lids, straws, forks, spoons, plates, etc. It was a rockin' good time seeing the faces of people when I told them their actual "plastic" cup was 100% compostable and made from corn! They were in awe! Some of them even tried to eat their cups! I learned so much more than I expected while being there. Everyone was great to my brother and I. We will be for sure volunteering for the next year festival. You even get an awesome 100% Organic Cotton Green Festival T-shirt! Walking around, seeing all the companies that are Eco-friendly made my heart flutter. I never once stopped smiling while I was there. I'm even thinking about going on a G-A-P Adventure Trip. The trips that you fly to third world countries for 15 days and help children, education programs, build new homes/schools, all over the world! This has definitely motivated me even more to help the world one human being at a time. GO GREEN LIVING! read more

Fabulous time at the Green Festival. There were a great deal of vendors that genuinely cared about the environment and sold a lot of innovative items that were environmentally and socially conscious. I was on the Green Team which stands by the bins and helps redirect the flow of materials. There's a paper recycling bin, a recyclables bin (mainly containers) and a compost bin. The landfill bin was last resort reserved for styrofoam, candy wrappers and stuff that was unrecoverable. Did you know that the Green Festival's practices yield a 93% reduction in the ecological footprint because most items are actually not going into the landfill? That's pretty huge, if we could transfer that to other conferences it would be great. There were a lot of speakers and fun activities but the big drawback was a lack of vendor choices for food. I'll be working with the organizers next year to improve the efficiency of the event. So far 4/22/07 has been the most meaningful day of 2007 for me. I was talking to the head of the Green Festival and found out that they have secured rights to a Gold Certified LEED building that is very large, so next year the event will be even bigger and better. They just got ot secure more vendors for the bigger building. For all the people that stopped and learned about the cups that seemed like plastic but were actually made from the byproducts of sugar cane pulp and the cups from corn starch, good for you! I enjoyed talking to you all. For the people that randomly tossed stuff into the bins without paying attention and acting like worthless consumers, I just hope you got SOMETHING out of the green festival. read more

Lots of good information and tons of goodies to buy although you've seen one bar of natural soap and you've seen them all. or have you? I like the local soap made by the Enterprising Kitchen who employees hard to employee woman to make goodies for your body. It was a great way to spend a dreary afternoon. I think the entry process was a bit elaborate. If I am at the green fest, whya re they wasting a billion pieces of paper just to get my email address before I can walk in the door. Seems like a sign in sheet would have been more appropriate, or a computer kiosk. The speakers were cool and informative, not all I'm-gonna-shove-my-message-down-your-throat! I liked to listen to the reactions of people who dont really know anything about fair trade, healthy food, or green living, especially with the food samples. Priceless! read more

My first year at Green Fest and I'm sure it won't be my last. First I just want to give a shout out to Maria F. who sent me the flyer for free admission. I love my Chicago philosophy: "Always be willing to try something new especially if you can get in for free" I love all things free and Chicago knows how to dish them out. Enough of that. Green Fest was entertaining and had a lot of brilliant ideas and some really good speakers. Who wouldn't like a cooler made out cardboard? Recycled "silverware?" or even Recycled toilet paper? That last one kind of blew my mind away. You see everything else being made out of recycled parts why not use recycled paper in toilet paper. And only less then 2% is from actual toilet paper.... Just kidding. I didn't agree with some of the freebies, like wasting stickers just to put on your shirt or the waste in paper to try and get you register for things. But other then that I don't have any complaints. If you missed out in 2010 be sure to make it next year. In the meant time do ya'lls best to live a green life. read more

Was here over the weekend and it was great to see the huge turnout, it was impossible to move for a while. I think there was a good mix of vendors represented which made it great for consumers and industry people. All the exhibitors were impressed by the response from the public and were all positive about the event (aside from that they were inside on the nicest weekend in seven months!!). Hopefully this will be a positive precursor for Greenbuild hosted by the USGBC here in Chicago later this year. Aside from the run-in I had with the recycling police manned at the bins (there were like six different categories of recycling) everyone was nice and helpful considering it was an all volunteer group. Plenty of organic wine, beer, cake, coffee, and tea for all!! read more

The only reason for 4 stars and not 5 is that I think it can be set up better. I would have preferred fewer vendors selling stuff and more seminars, presentations, etc. I volunteered at the beer garden, which, as my brother commented is like having the fox watching the hen house. read more

I went to the Green Fest @ McCormick Place on Saturday. It was great to see all the people there and everyone was really interested. The exhibit seems liked it was pretty much about consuming, with a few booths trying to get people involved. Since this was the green fest why wasn't it outside? It was great seeing the bins for different trash, but if you looked at the ground anywhere on the exhibit floor there was trash all over the place. I hope they do it again next year and find a larger space where everyone can at least walk around. read more

Went to the Green Fest @ McCormick Place and it was so inspiring and encouraging to see how much the eco-movement has grown. There were environmentally friendly solutions to nearly everything you can imagine--investing, cleaning, eating, hygiene, transport, cooking, drinking, clothing, accessories, etc etc. There was a hybrid boat which was awesome (if anybody buys one, can you take me out on the lake on it? ) :). There were plenty of free samples of food and drink (yum, chocolate, chocolate everywhere!) and of housecleaning products and other items. Also, items for sale were pretty affordable. There was also some fabulous art there, and music and food. Really cool was that all the cups, utensils, plates, etc used on premises were compostable (made out of corn starch or PLA). Made me realize that I am just being lazy when I don't make more of my life eco-friendly. I learned a lot this weekend and had a good time. I will definitely go back if they do it next year! read more

I went on Saturday. I loved it, learned a lot at the seminars and had fun seeing such a great variety of vendors and lots of earnest attendees. Still don't know if I would shell out 50 smackers for a shopping bag made out of old juice pouches but power to anyone who would. read more

Just okay. Came here on a Saturday with my bf to walk through the various vendors and stages. There weren't any talks that piqued my interest, although the food stage had some nice samples that they prepared and passed out to the audience. Some of the vendors had great causes and/or gave away some nice stuff, but some of the vendors were pretty random. read more

Lots of freebies which offset the admission and you feel good that you are doing something to help our community, self, world etc. Nice music the first year went. We need to learn to like sustainable food and habits. The crowd is like any fest but the people that show up to this all seem polite and friendly. read more

We (the mister and I) volunteered at the Beer Garden at the O.G. Chicago Greenfest (07). It was alright. We did not attend this year for several reasons, not the least of which was the vendor overload. I think we went expecting a celebration of shared environmental values, a communal feeling of determination and accomplishment, seminars and activities (and a drum circle. Kidding). Instead we encountered row after desperate row of 'green' snake-oil salesman. No, no I'm sure they weren't jerks but they were superfluous. Acacia drinks and paraben-free everythings and organic socks and 'save the cougar' tees and bamboo flooring and that annoying Discovery Channel and their free totes. Sure we made off with a lot of loot and full stomachs but we did not feel like we made a difference. Sadly, we also lacked that warm, fuzzy feeling that comes after an encounter with enlightened individuals. Admittedly, it was less than intimate and a lot people (maybe because it was first one? maybe cuz 'green' is trendy?) were just kind of there. Maybe it had something to do with the HIDEOUS McCormick Place itself. I don't know. But despite all the small atrocities and the (annoying) Mayor Daley speech, it did in whatever way raise awareness and all that. The end. read more

it was better than expected, never been to one befor, i only got to go for maybe an hour, it was nice besides some of the staff members standing by the doors were assholes, besides them it was great, ill be going again and next time bringing my child=]. read more