LITTLE ROCK — Conway's first EcoFest - scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, in Laurel Park - promises to be hands-on entertainment for the whole family.
"Think, touch, see, smell, taste - everything," said Whitney Beckham, owner of Nu:U Day Spa and Salon and one of the festival's organizers.
The festival is intended to fill the void, and then some, left when Conway's Earth Day Celebration moved to Little Rock a few years ago. Debbie Plopper of Conway is the main organizer behind EcoFest, and its subject matter is not far away from her day job as special projects coordinator at the Conway Recycling Department.
Plopper said earnest work on the project started at the beginning of the year after some preliminary talks proved that so many people - the city of Conway, college students and local business owners like Beckham included - were interested in the event. However, the idea for an interactive approach tounderstanding environmental issues dawned on her almost 30 years ago when she took one of her nieces to a hands-on children's science museum.
"Parents love it as much as the kids," Plopper said. "There are ways to educate both at the same time."
Exhibits will be grouped in an "ECOlibrium" section winding along Laurel Park's walking paths. Plopper said people should envision the section like a journey, where each stop along the way includes learning something new through hands-on activities - flowing into each other in a way that emphasizes the connection between different environmental issues.
For example, the portion on recycling and waste will be about 80 feet long and include activities such as sorting recycling like its done at the recycling center. Another exhibit will help visitors make their own eco-friendly home cleaners. The green-building section will help visitors find ways to retool their homes for energy efficiency, even on a budget. All the exhibits will be run by professionals with working knowledge of their subjects, Plopper said.
"Adults, they should all walk away saying, 'I didn't know that,'" Plopper said. "They'll walk away as interested or even more so than the kids."
Heifer International will be there with animals. Other parts of the festival will include more traditional booths run by businesses and vendors. There will be bicycle scavenger hunts, a cardboard car race, hybrid/electric car show and more.
People like Beckham and Plopper were just as electrified about the idea back in the winter as they are now that the big day is almost here.
"She and I just had the idea that Conway could do something really exciting," Beckham said.
Beckham said if anywhere is suited for an event like this, it's Conway, where people are open to future-oriented ideas and environmental issues.
"Conway's really a unique place, and I think it's [mostly] because of all the universities here," Beckham said. "We have a big influx of people from all over the country and the world who come here and then decide to stay because they like that small-town feel."
Assistant to the Mayor Jack Bell agreed that Conway is a place where the environmental solutions of the future are being tried out now. He cited the Conway's bicycle trails (the City Council has added an advisory board to advance the city toward national Bicycle Friendly Community certification) and the energy-efficiency facelift city buildings have undergone.
Bell said it was a natural fit, and the city has been involved since day one. Now, like Plopper and the other organizers, they're just eager for the actual day to arrive.
"You've got the food, the cars, it's going to appeal to a whole cross section of the community," Bell said. "It should be a great day."
Laurel Park is along the 2200 block of Prince Street.
There will be a volunteer opportunities meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Laurel Park pavilion. Tasks include those before and on the day of the event.
The application deadline for exhibitors is Monday. More information is available online at www.conwayecofest.com or by calling Plopper at (501) 327-2105 or (501) 472-0901. Plopper said a more detailed schedule of events should be up on the Web site by next week.
- awidner@ arkansasonline.com
River Valley Ozark, Pages 155, 164 on 08/30/2009