• WHAT, WHERE, WHEN - Riverfest – Frenchtown Goes Green AGAIN Labor Day Weekend Saturday September 5th 2009 12 – 6 and the music plays on till 8 and Sunday September 6th 2009 12:30 – 6, Bridge Street in historic downtown Frenchtown NJ.
• Hosts and Sponsors - Riverfest is hosted by the Frenchtown Business & Professional Association with assistance from the State of New Jersey Division of Tourism and Earthwise Associates.

  The organizers recognize the generosity of the numerous sponsors, who have made this event possible, in particular Elizabethtown Gas, Flemington Car and Truck Country, Naturelle Water Purification Systems, and Printech-Imaging for Business, in Flemington.

• Themes (Click here for more) - This year Riverfest is a Green Community Festival that will answer your questions how to buy, build, eat, play, be and live more sustainably.

  The green vendors will provide information not only on home energy audits, green building, retrofitting and remodeling homes to become energy efficient and save money but also how to live in a green sustainable manner. In addition to Frenchtown’s excellent restaurants and cafes there will be displays of organic and local foods from raw to gluten free, from grass fed beef and free range chickens to the full late summer bounty of local fruits and vegetables in other words a Farmer’s Market.

  We depend on water so here is a chance to learn about how to purify it (filters) and how to use less of it (make a rain barrel) and find alternative ways to transport it (reusable stainless-steel bottles). We urge everyone to bring their own reusable water bottles or buy one at the festival because this is a plastic free event!

  Frenchtown and its surroundings have a talented group of artists and craftspeople which will be well represented at the event. Many have been sharing their work at Riverfest for the past 5 years.

  Riverfest is a family event. This year, being mindful of the green theme, there will be plenty for kids including eco art and nature walks sponsored by local environmental groups and several green special events.

• Special Events (Click here for more)
  • On Saturday September 5th for kids and adults alike there will be special performances by Arm of the Sea* a travelling theatrical puppet show (www.armofthesea.org) who will perform at (1:30 and 4).
  • On Sunday September 6th at 2pm the Annual Pet Fashion Show will be held with this year’s theme Haute Eco Couture using recycled materials. For more information call Cleo at Alchemy (908) 996-9000.
  • A very exciting new event at this year’s Riverfest is the 1st Annual Youth Handmade Eco Friendly, Natural Material Non-plastic Canoe/Boat Race – or The 1st Annual Whatever Floats Your Eco Boat Race and Raffle. This race will be held Sunday September 6th
    
  • We need boats! You can carve a boat, build a boat, find a log and make a boat, reuse old wooden blocks, spindles, baskets or boxes to create a boat, gather twigs, grasses, hay or flowers and weave a boat or grow a boat – whatever floats your BOAT!
  • Specifics: Boats can be no longer than 18”. No plastics or duct tape, all material used must be natural and biodegradable. Judges reserve the right to question entries. IMAGINATION will be REWARDED!
  • Ages: 18 or under to submit a boat that will be eligible to win the $500. in Green Stocks. Anyone may enter and register a boat and there will be a small prize and glory of winning the race or being the first adult boat across the finish line.
  • Boat Registration: Boats will be accepted beginning August 29th through September 5th. Time and place will be posted at www.Earthwise.us (follow the canoe icon.) Please download and fill out the Registration form to be submitted with each boat. Boats will be on display the week before the race and will be given a number when submitted.
  • Float on Down: If boat builder wishes they can attach our web site (www.earthwise.us) to follow the boat on its journey down the river to the Delaware Bay and perhaps to the Atlantic Ocean!
  • Boat Blog: Boat Builders visit www.Earthwise.us and share ideas about your boat or get ideas from others. Questions: Suki Dewey (908)-403-2421 or sdewey@earthwise.us
  • Prizes: There will be cash prizes in the form Green Stocks for the winning boats built by those 18 or younger. There will be a prize for the winning adult boat and additional prizes awarded at the Judges’ fancy and the audience favorites.
  • Race: Sunday September 6th The finish will be around 4pm with the boats being put in the river north of Frenchtown around 3pm. Race organizers will pick the time and place for the start of the race.

• Carbon Challenge: (Click here for more) - The challenge asks the participants to make a personal pledge to cut their carbon footprint and we put a goal of a 1,000,000 lbs pledged over two day festival. Having successfully accomplished the goal in Peapack/Gladstone’s Annual Green Community Festival in 2008 the organizers of Riverfest feel they have two days to accomplish the feat and are dealing with a much more aware public. “A year has made a great deal of difference in the knowledge and awareness of sustainability and things green. The question now becomes “what else can I do to cut my carbon footprint?” instead of “my carbon what?” We are looking for help the two days of the event. Give us a call Suki Dewey (908)-403-2421 or sdewey@earthwise.us

• Arm-of-the-Sea creates contemporary works of mask and puppet theatre. Their large-scale productions combine visual storytelling with live music in a potent style of magical realism. They fuse the arts, natural sciences, history and current events into multi-layered performances accessible to audiences of many ages.

  Founded in 1982 by Marlena Marallo and Patrick Wadden, the company has become best know for shows that illuminate the links between human communities and the life-support processes of the planet. Their work has been featured at diverse venues including Lincoln Center's Out-of-Doors Festival, the Detroit Festival of the Arts, The Smithsonian Institute, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, the Lotus Festival of World Music, Madison Civic Center and the American Museum of Natural History.

  Arm-of-the-Sea is based in New York’s Hudson River Valley. In addition to the artistic vision of Marallo and Wadden, the company is shaped by the talents of musicians Dean Jones and Thomas Workman, designer Jean Whelan and performers Carl Welden, Julie Novak, Trey Daniels and Dale Gibbons. Arm-of-the- Sea is available for touring ten months each year. The company also conducts residencies and hosts an annual performance event, the Esopus Creek Puppet Suite, in their hometown of Saugerties, NY.

  Watching an Arm-of-the-Sea performance, one is struck by the visual poetry and elemental presence of the larger-than-life size characters; by surprising transformations from scene to scene; and by the live music that imbues each performance with lyrical energy. www.armofthesea.org

Inquiries for more information and/or interviews Contact: Suki Dewey sdewey@earthwise.us (908) 403-2421