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Kent festival celebrates 'Mama': Earth Day event touts solar power, organic foods, "green' living

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photograph by michael k. dakota/ 042509/ Helena Esparaza, 7, flutters around the concert in Kent.

By Matt Fredmonsky

Record-Courier staff writer

Solar and wind power were in abundance for the “Who’s Your Mama?” Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival held in downtown Kent Saturday.

A strong, steady breeze blew through the “green” vendors’ tents set up on East Main Street.

Jim and Sharon Patterson, of H-W Organic Farms in Sullivan, Ohio, clung to the frame of the pop-up tent as the wind tried to lift it up.

The couple was selling snap peas, green beans, red potatoes and the natural fertilizers used to grow the vegetables.

Jim Patterson said he can definitely tell the difference between his produce and crops grown with chemical-based fertilizers.

“I get flavor in my produce,” Patterson said. “I can tell the difference with stuff grown by organic ways. It doesn’t taste like a tin can.”

Saturday’s festival closed down East Main Street from Water to DePeyster streets and wrapped up a week of events in celebration of Earth Day. The annual event, sponsored and organized by Standing Rock Cultural Arts, is in its third year promoting sustainable, ecological activities in the area.

Near DePeyster Street, Bill MacDermott of Cleveland Solar and Wind preached the benefits of solar power to a steady stream of curious pedestrians.

MacDermott showed off a sample of the solar roof tiles he installed on top of his house. The lengthy, and stressful, installation cost him $10,000, but he received $3,000 back through a tax credit. And, perhaps most importantly, MacDermott pays about $100 per year in electric bills.

“It was a business decision,” MacDermott said. “The question is, is it worth it? No. Because we’re up against cheap coal.”

On the plus side, MacDermott said a new, cheaper version of the tiles is being released soon by Michigan-based LUMA Resources.

At the Ms. Julie’s Kitchen tent, Julie Wandling Costell had a table full of her own vegan cookbooks, breads, waffles, crackers and other baked goods made naturally from her own recipe. Wandling Costell said she used Ohio grown grains in all her products.

“And I ground the flour fresh,” she said. 

A number of festival attendees enjoyed the free samples at her table.

“The festival seems to be a good thing,” she said.