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On Saturday, Aug. 7, environmentalism, diversity and music come together like nothing before at Fernhill Park in Northeast Portland. Powered entirely by solar panels, the concert aims to raise awareness of emerging technologies and will act as a fund-raiser for the up and coming nonprofit, Minority Information Outreach.
The Ecopalooza Environmental Awareness Concert will feature ISSA, Speaker Minds with DJ FlipFlop, 3RP, Transcendental Brass Band and others, including a Beatles cover band. The free, day-long concert will take place from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the corner of Northeast Killingsworth and 42nd avenue. Former Trail Blazer Michael Harper will MC and Guest DJs include DJ Prashant and DJ FlipFlop.
Organizer Rah-Miel Mitchell told The Skanner News that environmental concerns belong to every person on this planet.
"We're using music to bring so many diverse groups together," he said.
The concert will also help to raise awareness and funds of Mitchell's nonprofit, Minority Information Outreach. MIO's goal is to recycle and refurbish older computers for underserved communities. It will also raise funds for Friends of Trees.
"In 2009, there were 200 million computers retiring from businesses and organizations," he said. "Less than half are refurbished. There's a need locally … you don't want the education of students to stop when they leave high school."
MIO's mission of reducing waste and promoting education is reflected in the groups sponsoring and taking part in Ecopalooza. The entire event will be "completely off the grid." All week, the self-contained stage and solar array by Sustainable Waves have been charging solar cells for the power that the festival will need. Even if Saturday has rain or significant cloud-cover, Mitchell says there will be plenty of power available – enough for an entire week.
The event is sponsored in part by National Solar and DeVry University's Keller Graduate School of Management – which graduated a good number of the event's organizers and founding members of MIO – Sustainable Product Works and KBOO Community Radio.
The entire line-up includes: 3RP (11:15 to 11:45 a.m.); Jeff Evans and the Transcendental Brass Band (12:05 to 12:35 p.m.); Jeff Handley Band (12:55 to 1:25 p.m.); Seven Reasons (1:45 to 2:30 p.m.); Jawbone Flats (2:50 to 2:35 p.m.); Revolver (3:55 to 4:40 p.m.); Rich Layton and the Troublemakers (5 to 5:45 p.m.); Speaker Minds (6:05 to 6:50 p.m.); and ISSA (7:10 to 7:40 p.m.).
Find out more about the event, the artists and the sponsors at http://econw.org
