Last weekend we had our first event of the Spring! The bus was invited to Festevol, the two day music festival featuring Barenaked Ladies and Guster (two of our favorite bands!), at Mt. Sunapee Ski Resort in Mt Sunapee, New Hampshire. Unfortunately, Saturday morning on our way to Festevol the bus began smoking after a long winter in hibernation! We had to leave the bus behind in Hanover until we could see a mechanic and diagnose the problem, but the rest of us still made it to the event in good time and we had a blast (you’ll be happy to know that the bus is all fixed and healthy again! The bus just had a little leak that was dripping coolant on the engine and thankfully very easily fixed).
The bus was invited by Reveerb to host a booth at the music festival. Reveerb is a non-profit organization based in Maine working to educate and engage musicians and their fans about how to act for a more sustainable organization such as helping bands make their music tours greener (www.reverb.org). We shared a tent with Reveerb volunteers in the Eco village outside of the performance tent. It was a fun time and a great opportunity to learn more about other organizations and companies who are promoting sustainability Our neighbors in the Eco Village included Ben and Jerry’s, American Flatbread, EVOL, and Nordica. (for a full list of the organizations: (http://festevol.com/partners/). There were people of all ages at Mt. Sunapee enjoying the free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, Stonyfield yogurt, Rustic pizza crust and even the little bit of snow remaining on the mountain.
The event was the first opportunity we had this year to get outside of Hanover and talk to the greater New Hampshire/ Vermont community. Although we didn’t have the bus to show off, we had a lot of great conversations with people who were hanging out and waiting for the concert to start. People were really interested in some of the cool products that the bus has, such as our Sunpower solar panels and our IceStone counter tops, and we had a bunch of conversations on the economic and environmental costs and benefits of various consumer choices, such as switching to solar power. We also got an invite for an event at a local grocery store, so stay tuned because we might have an event in the area again soon!
Next week is Dimensions, Dartmouth’s accepted student weekend. The bus will have a big presence during the weekend, so if you’re a prospective student reading this or you’ll be in the Hanover area, come talk to us! We’d love to meet you.
Until next time,
Sarah
