Mark your calendar for a whole day of FREE family fun at the 10th Annual North Grenville Sustainability Fair & Market on Sunday, April 23rd at the North Grenville Municipal Centre, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Sustainability Fair brings together locally-owned businesses, entrepreneurs, market vendors, artists, conservation groups and community groups from North Grenville and the surrounding area. With the increasingly popular Electric Vehicle EVent, this community fair has grown to be an eagerly-anticipated local event.
Find the EV’s in the north rink of the Municipal Centre. Owners will be onsite to show their cars, describe their experience of ownership, answer questions, and talk about why their transportation needs are easily met with electricity, instead of fossil fuel. Bring all of your questions! These owners have racked up a number of kilometers on their vehicles in our local climate.
The EVent will feature over a dozen electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids from a number of manufacturers: Chevrolet, Kia, Ford, Nissan, Smart and more are being added daily. The number of choices available to consumers is still expanding. Buyers now have access to the Chevrolet Bolt with a range of 383km as well as the first plug-in hybrid minivan – the Chrysler Pacifica. Back by popular demand, dealership sponsors of the EV Show will bring demonstration vehicles for test drives. You can sign up onsite to take an electric vehicle for a drive! You’ll experience for yourself the quiet, powerful performance of these vehicles.
Children will have lots to see and do while getting their hands dirty in the kid’s zone. From 10am – 1pm Anne Walsh from Art and Soul will encourage children to use a variety of sensory materials to create “bug huts”. For the budding engineer in the family Lego2Learn’s, Dave Melville will be there all day with his extensive collection of Lego of all sizes for children of all sizes. Yes, Moms and Dads, you too can enjoy the building bonanza! Explore the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s nature table and find out more about the bugs and critters you discover in and around your backyard. The Button Machine will be back so before leaving the kid’s zone make a personalized button badge to show your love for the planet on Earth Day weekend. All kid’s activities are free except buttons, which are a toonie each.
Music for this year’s edition of the Sustainability Fair will be provided by a cross section of local, acoustic favourites. Pop in to hear these fine locals share their talents:
10am Bella Borealis: A trio of Leahbeth Harding, Jeanne Lambert and Polly Beach; Bella Borealis is a small group of talented women from the Kemptville area who sing a cappella and acoustic rootsy classics and contemporary songs.
11.15am Alexis Earl: New to the fair, Alexis is a young pianist-composer and the granddaughter of Arnold and Helen Earl (well-known Ottawa musicians), she has been playing for around 15 years, and has recently decided to take music more seriously. Her eclectic song selections range from Beethoven to Justin Timberlake, and her original pieces are hypnotic and experimental.
12.30pm Fiddlehead Soup: World folk and fiddle music group Fiddlehead Soup is an energetic trio of musicians as engaging as they are talented—they start with a haunting Celtic, medieval groove based around native Scotsman Doug Hendry’s open tuned 12 string guitar and warm tenor voice, then they weave it into a gypsy tapestry with mother and daughter Glenna Hunter and Ursa Meyer’s twinned fiddles and voices. Singing songs from the traditions of multiple countries and in multiple languages as well as their own artfully constructed material, Fiddlehead Soup does an incredible job of making the difficult look not only effortless, but fun!
2pm Bruce Enloe: A singer –songwriter performing original songs that are equal parts folk, Americana and Beatle influenced pop, Bruce has, in recent years, been described as ‘the James Taylor of Kemptville’, but before that Bruce was born and raised in Bryan-College Station, Texas; the town where Lyle Lovett met Robert Earl King. He has since added California, Europe and Canada to his list of both musical influences and travels. After several years fronting the Burning Sensations, Kemptville Ontario’s largest band, he is now recording his third album and striking out on his own for a series of listening room style acoustic shows.
The music is presented ‘busker style’ in the main hall during the fair and market with half hour breaks between acts. There is some seating provided and there is no charge, although donations are (naturally) greatly appreciated…
A full line-up of 45 minute presentations will take place throughout the day in Meeting Room 1, which can be found at the top of the stairs from the lobby and to your left. Electric Vehicle presentations will be in the North Arena where the electric cars will be on display.
| Start Time | Location | Presenter | Presentation |
| 10.30am | Meeting Rm 1 (upstairs) | Peter Rooney | Beekeeping & the Challenges Facing Our Pollinators
|
| 11.00am | North Arena | Jeff Goodman | Electric Vehicles: All Charged Up! (1)
New Developments in the Electric Car Market |
| 11.30am | Meeting Rm 1 (upstairs) | Dr. Ellie Bennett | International Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities (ICSRC) development plan for Brockville |
| 12.30pm | Meeting Rm 1 (upstairs) | Janice Ashworth
& Dick Bakker |
Community Power Generation
Ottawa renewable Energy Co-op (OREC) |
| 1.00pm
|
North Arena
|
Jeff Goodman | Electric Vehicles: All Charged Up! (2)
New Developments in the Electric Car Market |
| 1:30pm | Meeting Rm 1 (upstairs) | Darcy Whyte | Solar Cell Phone Challenge |
For further information about the presenters and their topics or any other aspect of the Fair, including the Electric Vehicle EVent, please visit Sustainable North Grenville’s Facebook page or visit our website: www.SustainableNorthGrenville.ca
Bring your family, friends & neighbours and get to know more about our great community!
The 10th Annual N. G. Sustainability Fair & Market
Featuring the Electric Car EVent
Sunday, April 23rd
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
North Grenville Municipal Centre
285 County Rd. 44, Kemptville, ON