Solar flair

July 12, 2003

By BRENT CURTIS Staff Writer

POULTNEY — There was something new under the sun Saturday as SolarFest came down from the hills for the first time.

The ninth edition of the annual solar-powered music festival and alternative energy trade show got under way Saturday on the campus and playing fields of Green Mountain College in Poultney — far from the wooded hills in Middletown Springs where it started.

The change didn’t seem to matter to most people, who said that as long as the sun was shining they were having a good time.

“I think it’s a great setup,” David Aceto said Saturday as he wandered by the information booth at the two-day event. “Being on the farm gave it more of an ambience, but here you can have a lot more.”

Aceto, a resident of Townshend , Mass. , who was making his second visit to SolarFest, said finding the GMC campus was also a lot easier than tracking down the Middletown Springs farm of Ed Updike and Nance Dean where SolarFest started.

Aceto’s assessment of the event’s new home summed up organizers’ reasons for moving it, said Kathleen Colson, SolarFest’s director.

“Middletown Springs isn’t even on most maps,” she said. “This is a bigger setup too, we just didn’t have the space in Middletown Springs any more.”

At Green Mountain College , the group has found everything it needs for the annual event that concludes today, Colson said.

On Saturday, more than 100 exhibitors were showing off everything from solar panels and windmills to composting toilets and bio-diesel hybrid cars on the playing fields behind the campus.

A solar-powered stage was also set up for musical events, with more than enough room for the crowds to gather.

The festival has 29 performers on two stages, including rock group Black 47, African band Jaka, Caribbean group Inner Visions and the folk act Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem.

Indoor workshops were held on subjects like using vegetable oil as engine oil, meeting home heating needs with biomass and producing hot water with solar power.

Dormitories were also available for visitors who didn’t want to camp out.

But for all the new amenities, it remains to be seen how the new surroundings will affect turnout.

Last year, 2,500 people came to Middletown Springs. Forty-five minutes into this year’s event, Colson said she had no tallies and no predictions for attendance.

If the number of vendors were an accurate gauge, the event could expect more people.

The vendors and exhibitors increased 40 percent this year, Colson said, with many of the newcomers arriving from New York , where organizers concentrated more advertising this year.

Vendor Roy Butler traveled from Arkport , N.Y. to show off his solar- and wind-powered wares.

Butler said he was lured by the promotions and the buzz from others in the industry — not the venue. But he said he liked what he could see from his booth.

“I’m fine with it,” he said. “There’s an awful lot of shows and people around.”

Veteran SolarFest exhibitor Mark Skinder said he liked the flat open spaces at the college, though he missed the sylvan setting in Middletown Springs.

“The old stomping grounds was definitely a beautiful spot,” he said. “It was great to be in the hills, but this is good too.”

For visitor Shirley Oskamp of Middletown Springs, this year’s SolarFest represents the first time she’s had to leave town to visit the event. But she didn’t mind the drive.

“I think this is great, it allows for more participation,” she said. “It’s also easier to access.”

James Malby of Plainfield shared Oskamp’s appreciation of the new site’s accessibility.

Last year, he said, he ran afoul of a Middletown Springs resident who didn’t like all the traffic on his normally quiet country road.

Malby said his only lament for the new venue was the segregation of exhibits and workshops.

“It was easier before to stumble into a workshop,” he said. “Last year, walking by the tents you could hear a great speaker and wander over. Overall, though, it’s a wonderful event.”

SolarFest continues today from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.