The Three Rivers Arts Festival got underway over the weekend. This year, the annual celebration made up of concerts, art exhibits and food has a decidedly green component.
Three River Arts Festival director Veronica Corpuz explained the importance of this component.
“It’s one of the few green arts festivals of its kind in the country. We say it’s a green festival, it means that our operations, everything from how we sort our waste and try to divert as much waste from landfills by recycling and composting materials… to create a zero waste event at the Arts Festival. Given that behind the scenes operations, we’ve tried to bring that more to the forefront, through the art.”
This is shown by a booth in the center of the Arts Festival in the “creativity zone,” where you can craft your own sculpture out of compostables. These sculptures can be planted at home, or built along an artist’s own sculpture of bamboo displayed at the festival.
When you purchase food at the Festival, you will see all the plates and utensils are made out of compostables as well. Instead of putting them in the garbage, you can place them in specific locations that will turn them back into compost, instead of heading to a landfill. Corpuz says that there’s no going back on this green initiative, and the “green” aspect will be expanding into other festivals, as well.
The Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival runs until Sunday, June 13th. The festival is free and open to the public. Events take place downtown, around the Gateway Center towers, Point State Park, and in and amongst the Cultural District.
