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Festival's mission

Established in 2009 to promote conservation efforts and recycling within our community, the  Green Fest promises to again this year feature a variety of vendors, exhibitors and crafters who will share their eco-friendly products, offer demonstrations and provide an array of recycling opportunities.

Who will be there?

Everything from solar energy systems to composting to fair trade products to heirloom tomato plants to special children's activities to recycling opportunities to clothing and children's book swaps will be featured throughout the park. A variety of food concessions are also planned for the main pavilion.

Volunteers needed

Last year, 39 volunteers helped in every area of the park, helping vendors with setup, passing out programs, collecting recyclables in the Recycling Zone, helping in the Kid Zone with the children's activities and directing traffic. More volunteers will be needed this year because of the longer festival hours. Please sign up to help by April 24, 2010. Volunteer Form

Bookmark this website [www.boonsborogreenfest.com] so you can return to view more information about exhibitors and other activities.

Donations welcome

The committee is also accepting donations and sponsorships to help defray expenses. If you are able to help out in any way, please make checks payable to "Boonsboro Green Fest 2010" and mail to: Boonsboro Green Fest, P.O. Box 64, Boonsboro, MD 21713-0064. If you have questions or would like to make a comment, please email the committee.

FIRSTS - Jenny Sarnecki, Green Fest chair, proudly displays the first vendor application and donated gift certificate for the 2009 inaugural event. The Green Fest Committee for the second annual festival looks much the same as last year. Returning chair Ms. Sarnecki has enlisted the volunteer services of the entire committee from 2009, plus two new members.

Green Fest organizers

Working with Green Fest 2010 chairperson Jenny Sarnecki are returning committee members: Sieg Gooding, Rosemary James, Amy Jones, Brigitte Schmidt, Laura Schnackenberg, Janeen Solberg, Kathy Vesely and Barbara Wetzel, along with new recruits Sean and Leslie Haardt.

All committee members reside in Boonsboro. Ms. Solberg also is the founding chair of the Boonsboro Recycling Task Force, which sponsors the Green Fest; Ms. Wetzel is a Boonsboro Town Council member; Ms. Vesely serves as chair of the Washington County Solid Waste Advisory Committee, and Ms. Schnackenberg is a member of the town's Park Board, which oversees the operation of the expanding Shafer Park, location of the annual festival.

Come learn ways to help Mother Earth on Mother's Day weekend.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please print Boonsboro Green flyer promoting the May 8th event (Greenfest 2010 Flyer) and post it in your place of work, at your place of worship, at the local grocery store or on your school bulletin board.

TASK FORCE WINS STATE AWARD - The Boonsboro Recycling Task Force was presented with the Maryland Recycling Network's 2009 "Outstanding Environmental and Community Leadership Award" on June 26, 2009, at the University of Maryland, College Park. Members of the Task Force were honored during the 5th Joint Conference of the Network and the SWANA Mid-Atlantic Chapter. Present for the award ceremony were (back, from left) Harvey Hoch, Washington County Recycling Coordinator who nominated the Task Force, and founding members Janeen Solberg, chair, Laura Schnackenberg and Barbara Wetzel; and (front, left) Rosemary James and Kathy Vesely. Unable to attend were founding members Amy Jones, Jenny Sarnecki and Brigitte Schmidt.

History of Green Fest's sponsor:

Boonsboro Recycling Task Force

The Boonsboro Recycling Task Force (BRTF) was created in August 2007 to promote recycling and conservation efforts within the Boonsboro community through service and education.

The initial impetus which put the 10-member Task Force into motion was the loss of the residents’ only means to recycle - a dumpster provided through a Washington County program. The town government had been forced to discontinue hosting the bin because the remote site was being used as a dumping ground for much more than recyclables.

The group's first goal was to work with the town to reinstate the county's recycling bin program by finding a suitable location for the dumpster.

On Dec. 22, 2007, some four months later, recycling was returned to Boonsboro, as the recycling dumpster began operations at its current site - in the Park-n-Ride at the intersection of Alt. Rt. 40 and Rt. 67 in the town’s south end. Two years later, in November 2009, a second dumpster was added by the county to help take care of the overflow at this very busy site. 

A common site at the recycling area before the second dumpster was added.

To help ensure that the site would not be overrun again with refuse, the members of the BRTF offered to regularly monitor the dumpster site. The group kept its promise and a member visited the site each day for more than two years, until February 2010 when the town government took over monitoring duties on weekdays, with the Task Force checking the site on weekends. 

In 2009, residents deposited in the recycling dumpsters an average of 18.5 tons of recyclables each month. During the same 12-month period, however, the town still sent more than 1,200 tons of household waste to the county landfill. That's equal to one full ton (2,000 pounds) of waste for every Boonsboro household being buried in the landfill during the year.

The Task Force's second goal from the start has been to bring curbside recycling to the residents of Boonsboro. An estimated 3,200 people reside in Washington County's second largest municipality.

In late 2007, a door-to-door survey (Click here to view the survey) was conducted by Task Force members to determine who and how residents were recycling at the time and how many would be interested in the town’s starting a curbside recycling program. Of the nearly 500 households surveyed, more than 86 percent were in favor of adding curbside services. The town, however, has not initiated a curbside program, as the Washington County government has been studying a county-wide program for the past year or so.

While the BRTF continues to push for more recycling services in the town and beyond, members have become involved in other educational and outreach programs to improve the community:

Green Fest - Planning began in early 2009 for the first annual Boonsboro Green Fest. The second Saturday in May was selected and members began to work on attracting exhibitors, sponsors and food vendors, and on promoting the event throughout the region. The event was so successful, with 84 vendors and thousands of attendees, that the committee immediately vowed to "Do It Again in Two Thousand and Ten."

Education - Environmental Clubs have been started at both Boonsboro High School (March 2008) and Middle School (September 2008), while plans are in the works to start a similar program in the Elementary School. The Middle School club has grown to more than 30 members during the 2009-10 school year.

MAKE YOUR OWN - Janeen Solberg (right), chairperson of the Recycling Task Force, demonstrates to a church group in Boonsboro how to mix eco-friendly household cleaners. She is assisted by Task Force members Kathy Vesely (left) and Jenny Sarnecki, who serves as Green Fest chair.

Green Cleaning - A demonstration on how to make eco-friendly cleaning products has been presented by BRTF Chair Janeen Solberg to groups throughout the community. If your organization would like to learn how to help the environment and save money at the same time, send an email to the attention of Janeen. 

Information - A recycling how-to information sheet (Click here to view the how-to sheet) was produced by the BRTF and distributed throughout the community and mailed with the residents’ town utility bills in 2008. A refrigerator magnet detailing what and where to recycle was also distributed to town residents.

Recycling - BRTF members collected recyclables during all of the major events held during 2008 and 2009 in the town's Shafer Park. Initially, the recycling containers were borrowed from a neighboring municipality for each event. The Task Force, however, felt that the town should have its own containers so they would be more accessible. The Mayor & Council agreed and the 15 new containers were debuted at the first annual Green Fest.

Since then, they have been used to collect recyclable bottles and cans during all of the major events at the park, at the South Mountain Little League baseball fields on Monroe Road throughout the baseball season and at other special events. The Town buys the special collection bags and the Task Force members set up, monitor and collect the recyclables to be placed in the recycling dumpsters at the Park-n-Ride on the east of Boonsboro. Nearly 50 extra-large, see-thru bags have been filled with recyclables that otherwise would have ended up in the county landfill.

TREASURES IN 'THEM THAR' LOCKERS - Task Force members Rosemary James (left) and Kathy Vesely sort the contents of the Boonsboro High School lockers during one of the locker clean-outs Kathy initiated at the high school. Hundreds of notebooks, paper, pencils, books and a myriad of other reusable materials have been saved from being dumped in the county landfill. The recovered supplies are then made available to students at no cost. The founder of the school's Environmental Club, Kathy is also the chair of the Washington County Solid Waste Advisory Committee. A group of students, earning their Student Service Learning (SSL) hours, collects recyclables each week from the classrooms. Without this program, there would be no organized recycling program in the high school.

Report - To let the community know about its goals and accomplishments, the BRTF produced a report (Click here to view the report) of its first year’s activities and made a presentation to the Boonsboro Mayor & Council in September 2008. Another report is planned for September 2010; it will contain a two-year summary of activities, including details about the first two Green Fests.

LANDFILL TOUR - The Task Force sponsored an eye-opening tour of the Washington County 40 West Landfill in the fall of 2008. Other tours are being planned. County Recycling Coordinator Harvey Hoch (left) led the tour. Harvey retired in early 2010; he will be sorely missed by the BRTF and the Green Fest Committee.

Members reach out to help community - Members of the Task Force are very busy with families, work, and other civic, school and religious activities. And the enthusiasm to treat Mother Earth kindly carries over into the community. One of many examples occurred when member Brigitte Schmidt initiated a soccer equipment and clothing swap (see photo below) during the start of the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) season in September 2009. More than 30 players were outfitted with gently used cleats and 20 players received soccer balls, while several others received shinguards, socks and shorts. Another swap is planned for the spring of 2010.

SOCCER SWAP - The BRTF and the local youth soccer organization teamed up to sponsor a soccer equipment and clothing swap during two Saturdays in September 2009. Showing off some of the gently used items are (from left) Brigitte Schmidt, a BRTF founding member and originator of the swap, Keith Juedemann, regional commissioner for AYSO, and Paul Kadin, assistant regional commissioner.

Expand - An important goal of the Task Force during its third year is to continue expanding its membership so current programs can be enhanced and new earth-friendly programs and projects can be initiated.

Make a positive difference in our community

Now you've seen what we've been up to. If these sorts of activities sound interesting and you reside in or around Boonsboro, we would love to have you join the Task Force. Email us and help make our community a better place for everyone. Our regular meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Community Center in Boonsboro's Shafer Park and are open to the public. Come join us.

BRTF meeting topics varied - The Task Force has played host to a wide variety of resource people discussing many topics of interest to the community. Topics have included safe food preparation for large gatherings, advantages of purchasing produce from a certified organic farm and how to reduce your carbon footprint. In addition, members viewed the movie "Trashed" (http://trashedmovie.com/trailer.html) during movie night.

CHOOSE CLEAN, GREEN POWER - Members and guests of the Boonsboro Recycling Task Force heard an informative presentation in March 2010 about how to use only wind-generated electricity in their homes. Amanda Duzak (left) of Clean Currents explained why and how residents can choose green power over electricity generated by coal and nuclear plants. BRTF members Sean Haardt and his wife Leslie were the first Booonsboro family to make the switch to Clean Currents, a clean energy company based in Rockville, Md. "Signing up was easy," says Sean. Go to www.cleancurrents.com for more information. Be sure to type in "Boonsboro" when asked how you heard about the program when filling out the application to switch to Clean Currents. There is no cost to switch to wind power. Maryland residents have had the opportunity to switch power providers since legislation was approved by the General Assembly a decade ago.