Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Green Apple Festival rocks Fair Park

By Stephanie Parker

DALLAS — The Green Apple Festival came to Fair Park on April 20 for an early celebration of Earth Day. The festival is touted as America’s largest Earth Day celebration and features art, exhibits and live music in eight cities nationwide. Los Lonely Boys were the headliners in Dallas, with Martin Sexton, Junior Brown, Cas Haley, The Steps and George Stanford also performing.

In addition to enjoying the bands that were performing for free, there was a wide range of booths to look at. One booth that caught a lot of attention was sponsored by Supreme Master TV. The pro-vegetarian booth pushed that meat and dairy is bad for the environment. That must not have been the overall opinion of the festival, as turkey legs were available at the concession stand.

Green Dallas, the city's environmental initiative, had an informative booth about ways to help the environment locally. Starbucks was on hand with some tasty beverages, and SOYJOY was handing out samples around every corner. Fair Park is big, so it was only appropriate that pedi-cabs were available to escort guests to their next destination. For guests not interested in bike transport, there were plenty of ideas for eco-friendly cars, including a super small car that is registered as a three-wheeled motorcycle and the blade – a contraption that fits over your exhaust pipe and decreases pollution.

While the booths were fun to look at, the main attraction was the bands. Although I did not have the pleasure of seeing them all, Junior Brown and Cas Haley seemed genuinely excited to be in Dallas for the Earth Day event. If the rest of the bands performed with similar passion, then the audience got a great show.

See more stories in:

• Festivals
• Environmental Issues