out and about

Inaugural Greenfest Offers Fun In - And With - The Sun
By Joe Pinciaro

Infinite Roots, one of 15-plus bands, entertained the crowd on Saturday afternoon. Photos by Joseph Pinciaro

Mattituck - Take an environmentally-conscious, self-employed technology entrepreneur, a health-conscious mother of five, Craigslist, and a lull in the North Fork summer festival season. It sounds like the beginning of a crude joke, but when mixed for nine months, the aforementioned combination actually became the recipe for the first annual East End Greenfest, held at Mattituck Strawberry Fields this past weekend.

Syd Dufton, along with his wife Deborah, started organizing the East End Greenfest last December.

Launched as a private endeavor by Syd and Deborah Dufton and modeled after Britain's Great Green Gathering, the East End Greenfest hosted 140 vendors selling everything from "sustainable" clothes to energy audits to paper recycled out of Sri Lankan elephant dung. Also present were a Gyrotron, a contortionist, organic iced coffee, and a portable, solar-powered unit that supplied electricity for a stage that hosted over 15 musical acts. The eclectic group took part in Long Island's first ever outdoor festival completely dedicated to everything "green," a manifestation of a growing lifestyle that has clearly become more than just a trend.

"I've always been into healthy things," proclaims Dufton. "But most people don't know how easy it is to do things that will be better for the environment." The mother of five supports buying from local growers as one of the most effective ways to help the environment and adds that she and her husband designed their house in Cutchogue - built three years ago - to have thicker walls, thus allowing for increased insulation and less oil consumption. "We're going to run out of oil eventually," she says. "So we have to find ways not to use it. Why shouldn't we use the sun and the wind?"

Heather, Jesse, Michael, and John Henry Meehan of Riverhead. Micheal Meehan enjoyed seeing the vendors - specifically the recycled guitar straps - while Heather was interested by the energy audit information booth.

To use the sun for Greenfest, the Duftons contacted Aquebogue's Gary Minnick, who has been in the solar power business for 30 years. Minnick runs www.gosolar.com and was asked to provide a unit to power a music stage. After seeing the extensive set list Syd compiled, Minnick asked, "What is this, Woodstock?" and turned to two of his employees to create a proper system. For seven days leading up to the festival, Adam Eberhardt and Terrence Kraus worked on a "sunshack" that powered the amps, microphones, and switchboard for the music stage. Designed by Eberhardt and built on a trailer, Minnick plans to rent out the unit to in the future at events such as weddings and parties.

John Joyce, under the tent at Mr. Ellie Pooh's Elephant Dung Paper, was one of 140 vendors at the East End Greenfest.

The Duftons turned to Craigslist to get some entertainment on stage for festival-goers, posting an ad for bands that play strictly original material. They were inundated with over 200 responses, and for few days "spent all night listening to the bands on MySpace," according to Syd. A couple days later, a diverse set list had been created. Musical acts included African drum troupe Infinite Roots, alternative rockers The Mondays, acoustic artist Yukari Roja, Southern folk rockers Jaden South, and reggae group Dub Sack Dynasty. Collaborating on the music for Greenfest turned out to be one of the biggest challenges, Syd admitted. "I had never done bands before, but between the scheduling, timing, and changing of equipment, I didn't expect it to be so difficult."

Terrence Kraus and Adam Eberhardt put the finishing touches on a solar-powered "sunshack," specifically designed to supply electricity for the music stage and switchboard at the East End Greenfest.

In marketing Greenfest, the Duftons used both traditional and progressive campaigns. Two hundred signs made of recyclable material scattered roadsides of the North Fork and newspaper ads covered the older mediums, while Deborah made a website (eastendgreenfest.com) that led a new media attack. The Duftons also sent out e-mail blasts and created a Facebook page for Greenfest that boasts over 150 fans, which offered updates on which musical acts were performing and pre-event press.

Michael Meehan of Riverhead found out about the festival through one of the roadside signs. "I like the theme, and my kids are into this so I thought we'd come by," he said. "It's nice to see different kinds of vendors. Personally, I liked the guitar straps made of recyclable materials."

The Strawberry Field Grounds in Mattituck served as the home for the first annual East End Greenfest held last Saturday and Sunday.

While some of the 140 vendors at Greenfest are familiar with making their rounds at many of the local festivals, others came from out of state specifically to experience the green crowd. Maryanne Gilbert and Scott Bills of Philadelphia, owners of Sardine Clothing, sold sustainable clothing at their tent - "sustainable" being defined as "material that won't impact future generation's need of resources," Bills explained. Everything in their tent, except the elastics in the waistbands and threads, was made out of recyclable material.

In the week or two before the festival, Deborah Dufton noted that 60 of the 140 vendors called asking if there was still space left to rent. The couple, who was planning for the event since last December, even had to deny a few who called the day or two before the festival began. Syd attributes the particular date of Greenfest - "a lull weekend as far as events go and a transition weekend for lots of renters" - as part of the reason he and his wife chose to host it when they did. According to at least one vendor, they chose the right spot at what seems to be the right time.

"I'm always looking for a good green festival," asserted Robin Kuprsmith, owner of online retail site www.organicpurelife.com, under her tent. "I only bring my products to green festivals, and I think this is going to get bigger. I have high expectations for this part of Long Island."

Comments
Ken Carmen -The Mondays from Hauppauge, NY says:
I had a GREAT time performing at "The Greenfest Festival" on Saturday. The entire experience was more then I ever could have expected. Performed on a solar powered stage, sampled some local wines, tried some food I had never even heard of, gorgeous weather, and met some really cool people. GREENFEST 2009 was a major hit in my book. "Pure edutainment"..."NICE JOB" Syd and Deborah!