The 23rd Annual Lake Superior Harvest Festival took place at Duluth’s Bayfront Festival Park on Saturday, September 10th. Nearly 6,000 people attend this popular event to chat with their favorite local farmers, pick up delicious local produce, jams and baked goods, and explore local arts and crafts vendors. In addition, the Harvest Festival featured the always-popular Energy Tent!
The Energy Tent was headed up by Minnesota Power, and housed a number of energy-related organizations, including: Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs), Ecolibrium3, Zenergy, Northern Energetics, Comfort Systems, UMD Office of Sustainability, the Natural Resources Research Institute, Wagner Zaun Architects, the Minnesota Department of Commerce – Division of Energy Resources, Your Home Improvement Company, and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.
The Energy Tent at Harvest Festival.
Visitors to the Energy Tent were engaged with current research on energy efficiency and renewables, inspired by clean energy success stories, and motivated to take action with clean energy resources. “We talked to thousands of people between all of our booths in the Energy Tent. It was one great day to be in Duluth and at Harvest Festival,” noted Paul Helstrom, Renewable Program Lead with Minnesota Power.
Alyssa Kresky with Minnesota Power and her friend being Energy Heroes at the Harvest Festival Energy Tent.
The Georgetown University Energy Prize, a national competition the City of Duluth is participating to save energy, was a highlight. Each of the Georgetown University Energy Prize partners (ComfortSystems, Minnesota Power, and Ecolibrium3) sponsored an activity as part of an Energy Challenge. The idea was for visitors to stop by each of these booths, complete an activity, and receive stamp in their “passport” for a chance to win a prize.
Ecolibrium3, a Duluth nonprofit with a focus on clean energy, sponsored an Energy Challenge. The Energy Challenge is an obstacle course with energy saving activities such as choosing the right light bulb, caulking a line, becoming window aware, insulating a pipe, setting the thermostat, installing an aerator, and identifying some energy-saving items (programmable thermostat, furnace filter, refrigerator coil brush). Groups of visitors participated in the Energy Challenge together, with time allowed to discuss and ask questions. After completing the Energy Challenge visitors received an energy kit, provided by ComfortSystems and Minnesota Power, which included LED lamps, LED Holiday lights, a low flow shower head and aerator, and a roll of air sealing foam.
Energy Challenge from Ecolibrium3 at Harvest Festival.
Shannon Laing, Director of Partnership Development at Ecolibrium3, said of the event, “The thing I was happy to see was so many families. The parents would have their kids do the Challenge with them, thinking the kids needed to learn stuff but they ended up learning as much (or more) than the kids. Lots of good education and opportunity to have more extensive conversations about energy saving activities and lots of opportunity to let people know about the Georgetown Energy Prize Competition.”
More information on the Duluth’s actions towards winning the Georgetown University Energy Prize is available on Ecolibrium3’s Duluth Energy website. And learn more about the Annual Lake Superior Harvest Festival on their website and on Facebook.
Solar-powered tiny house at Harvest Festival.
