Summer is in full swing, and that means that festival season is upon us. At this year’s 8th annual Love Our Local Fest, the festivities promise to bring the community together in unique and meaningful ways.
Saturday August 18, from 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Bethel Street and San Francisco Ave. in the NE neighborhood of Olympia, the free and family-friendly event is a street festival of local art, food, and music. But more than that, it is a celebration and cultivation of community.
Love Our Local Fest features strong partnerships with local businesses and nonprofits, many of whom table at the festival to connect with people in the community. One such partnership is with South Sound Solar. This local business sponsors Love Our Local Fest annually and brings their Solar Rover on site to power the event’s Center Stage using solar energy.
Also helping to keep the event local and sustainable is OlySunrise Compost Concierge. Run by Heather Wood and a team of volunteers, they will collect food waste from the event, process and redistribute the compost by bicycle within a three mile radius of the festival. Dedicated volunteers like “Rasta” Joe Hoffman also help reduce the waste stream from the event, by sorting all the trash receptacles by the end of the night.
“It takes over 100 volunteers for Love Our Local Fest to come together every year,” shares Ashley McBee, co-organizer of the event, “It’s a grassroots movement, and we thrive when community members come forward with energy and creativity.”
Love Our Local Fest is run entirely by volunteers, including the core group of organizers, day-of volunteers, and other teams who want to contribute their own projects. This year, a groups of local artists have volunteered to design two Community Art Projects, the Community Manifestation Mural & the Upcycled Giving Tree Sculpture. With materials all provided, festival goers of all ages will build out these art installations and then they will be shared with the community at large throughout the year. The Giving Tree is slated to march in the 2019 Procession of the Species parade! –
Also run by Volunteer Community Artist, Jade McCarty is the festival’s Synergy Dome, a sheltered geodesic dome built to display local artwork. The area will also feature workshops throughout the day, and the opportunity to contribute to the Community Manifestation Mural. Loads more activities for festival goers of all ages!
“We need and want people to join Love Our Local Fest and bring new ideas,” says Ashley, “People who come to us with an idea and ask to plug in. That’s kind of what happened for me.”
Ashley first attended Love Our Local Fest in 2013. “I experienced something that I’ve heard repeated by many others as well, that Love Our Local Fest just has so much feel-good around it,” she shares, “The sheer number of interconnections that are happening throughout festival is overwhelming in a really positive way. It’s just so engaging. I was like, I want to be a part of this.”
A couple of years later Ashley contacted the organizers to get involved, first helping with media sponsorship and organizing a fundraiser. By 2016 she became a full-time organizer, now alongside Daniel Landin, and Gail O’Sullivan of Fertile Ground.
“We always invite people to connect and contribute,” Ashley says, “We have so many people that are talented in our community that can fill even one piece of the puzzle.”
Guests at Love Our Local Fest can come enjoy the crafted local foods and music, and they can also meet new people, learn about what is happening in the community and how to get involved.
“The support that we want to foster for event vendors, non-profits, and sponsors is not just monetary, it’s also community engagement,” she adds, “It is sharing resources, and connecting people with their community.”
For more information or to sign up to volunteer, visit the Love Our Local Website.
Love Our Local Fest happens Saturday August 18, 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Bethel Street and San Francisco avenue NE Olympia, 98506.
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