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Green Scene Fair draws vendors and visitors
First time event offers diversity from health foods to green vehicles

by Glenn Wohltmann

Perhaps part of it was preaching to the choir, but Pleasanton's first-ever Green Scene Fair held last week has been pronounced a success.

Some 75 vendors, including everything from energy drinks to home energy conservation, organic farmers and green vehicles took part in the fair. Waste cans on site allowed people to sort their trash, and at least one estimate was that nearly 650 people took time out of their Thursday to check out what's new in green tech.

The city of Pleasanton played a large role. Along with Hacienda Business Park, it sponsored the event and had multiple booths, showing people how to conserve water, a three-D demonstration on pollution and to push for attendance at the city's Oct. 27 climate action plan workshop.

"There's a statewide goal to meet 1990 standards by 2020, which means 15% to 20% reductions from where we are now," explained Jeff Caton, a consultant hired to help with the climate plan.

Laura Ryan, Pleasanton's recently hired energy and sustainability manager, called it the "first annual Green Scene Fair" and said it was a success, noting that she wasn't sure anyone would actually show up.

The point of the event, she said, was to give people "ideas on how to reduce their carbon footprint and how important that is on a personal level."

Ann Pfaff-Doss has been attending similar events for years, but was impressed by this one.

"I liked having the diversity," she said. "This has health foods, the farmers market, the city of Pleasanton has a couple of booths, there are even banks."

Many of the booths were taken by the public sector. Alameda County, for instance, had a booth to promote its green business program. BART, San Joaquin Regional Rail and the city of San Ramon all had booths that focused on transportation, while the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the nonprofit group Breathe California had booths to promote clean air.

In addition, several organic farms had booths, and there were a number of private organizations with electric vehicles and solar power companies.