Swap meet adds extra fun to Greening the Earth Day festival in Pasadena Saturday

SWAP MEET IS A NEW FEATURE AT SATURDAY’S GREENING THE EARTH DAY AND FAMILY ARTS FESTIVAL

Sharing may be the ultimate way to preserve Earth’s resources.

“You may have just what another person needs: A bicycle, toy, overcoat, kitchen gadget or antique lamp that is no longer useful to you but deserving of a good home,” said Janine Christiano, who is helping organize the first swap meet at Pasadena’s Greening the Earth Day and Armory Family Arts Festival on Saturday, April 24.

Those most familiar with swapping goods may be Depression-era parents or grandparents, but now younger adults are sharing in new ways such as “time banks” and “freecycling.”

“As a community we have more resources than we do as individuals,” said Christiano, coordinator of Arroyo Time Bank. “If we share our resources we won’t need to buy as many new ones.”

On Saturday the public is welcome to bring usable goods, clean clothes and fresh, whole produce from 8 to 10 a.m. to the northwest corner of Memorial Park, Raymond Avenue at Walnut Street. Volunteers are invited to a preview swap at 10 a.m. The swap meet will be open from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If items are not taken, the owners who brought them are responsible for removing them from the park. For more information on the swap meet call (626) 792-5101, ext. 145.

The annual Greening the Earth Day and Family Arts Festival is Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave.; Memorial Park across the street; and on Raymond Avenue between Walnut and Holly streets. The event will feature green products, green organizations, water-friendly plants, electric vehicles, art exhibitions, live entertainment and children’s art workshops. Val Zavala, anchor of the KCET series “Life and Times,” will return as master of ceremonies.

Businesses and nonprofit organizations will display information or sell items that promote green living, energy and water efficiency, composting, organic foods, green building design, alternative transportation and renewable energy.

The festival is also a resource for learning more about Pasadena’s plans for waste reduction, recycling, conservation and other Green City initiatives. A guided bicycle tour of green projects in Pasadena, organized by C.I.C.L.E., will begin at 11 a.m. at the park.

Armory Center will provide ongoing, Earth-friendly art workshops in clay sculpture, paper weaving and fabric story collages.

Artwork will be found inside and outside of the Armory Center, including CreAIRtor, installation art by Doron Gazit, and seventh graders at Washington Middle School.

In the Armory’s Community Room, “Artful Solutions: Pathways from Homelessness” will have its opening reception from 2 to 4 p.m. “Story of Stuff” a 20-minute film about American consumerism, will be screened from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

On the street, alternative-energy vehicles will be on display; live music will be performed by Kan Zaman, Los Angeles Taiko Center, PEACEmuse and Old Californio on a stage that will be solar-powered by Acro Energy; dance will be performed by Folklorico Nahuatzen, Danza Yankuititl Aztec Dancers and Lineage Dance on a special dance floor in front of the stage, where the public will also be invited to participate; an interactive drum circle will be presented by Drumtime; vendors will offer food for purchase and Pasadena firefighters will cook hot dogs.

The environmental booths will be in the park and on the street; the swap meet will be in the park; and the children’s art workshops will be at the park and the Armory Center.

Pasadena Water and Power customers will have a chance to win an Energy Star clothes washer valued at $800. Each person who rides the Metro Gold Line to Memorial Park will receive an Earth Day reusable bag by showing a Metro pass at the Pasadena Transportation Department Booth while supplies last.

The festival’s solar-powered electricity will be provided free by Acro Energy, which has installed solar power systems throughout Pasadena and Southern California.

Sponsoring the festival are the city of Pasadena, Armory Center, Metro and Conscientious Projector, which kicks the festival off on Friday, April 23, with a free screening of “DIRT!” a documentary film on the life-giving wonders of Earth’s soil, at the historic and recently renovated Raymond Theatre, 129 N. Raymond Ave., at 7 p.m.

For a list of vendors or more information go to www.cityofpasadena.net/earthday, www.Facebook.com/PasadenaEarthDay or call (626) 744-4721.