Thursday, June 2, 2016

world environment day festival cancelled

sorry everyone, it is with a heavy heart that we announce that we will not be going ahead on saturday with our world environment day festival.

the forecast for severe weather is too great a risk, and we must consider the duty of care we owe to everyone who would be a part of our day. this has been a very difficult decision to make, and we hope you understand.

predictions for boonah are up to 90mm of rain with winds up to 40km/hr.

we will refund money paid for stall fees, and we will let you know about any plans we make to reschedule.


see you next time, and stay safe. we need the rain, just perhaps not this much.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

World Environment Day Festival

Boonah’s World Environment Day Festival is on this Saturday. Again showcasing a huge array of exhibitors, workshops, demonstrations, art and performances, there’s lots of inspiration and celebration for everyone.  

keep up to date with what's happening via our facebook event page

and here's a list of festival participants


With live entertainment, free creative workshops, displays and demonstrations, quality organic food and local produce, loads of plants, artwork, native wildlife, recycling bays and there’s so much more for the whole family to get involved in.

The day will start with a moving traditional acknowledgment ceremony before the live entertainment gets underway.

There’s always a big focus on repurposing, with artwork, workshops and displays most worthy of the eco- conscious visitor.

There’ll be a wonderland of original designs created by eco-artists from materials which normally make their way to landfill. They can successfully transform trash into treasure, combining recycling and creativity to show innovative ways to save our resources.

Visitors will see guitars created from hubcaps, bunting made from grain bags and baling twine, letterboxes and garden ornaments from old gas bottles and garden tools, and precious digital jewellery created from computer parts,

Lorenzo from noosa-artisan-upcycle-unique at the Eumundi Markets will be selling his upcycled silver jewellery and will also help people make their own spoon ring in one-on-one workshops.  This will be popular and people are encouraged to register their time with Lorenzo early in the day. It’s also possible to bring a favourite silver spoon for the purpose.

A highlight of the day will be watching Terina Smith create art from landfill bound materials – in this case old electricity crossbeams, insulators and all fittings and fixtures. The piece will become a candelabra and will be a prize in the multi prize raffle.  

Terina has also put out the challenge to create something on the spot. She’s welcoming people to bring along four items - china, glass, enamel ware, cutlery, even small old car parts - anything long lived, but of course no plastic, and she will create at least one piece on the spot using those items.

The event is a plastic bag free event, and visitors are encouraged to bring their own bags or purchase from the array of innovative bag available on the day. These range from bags handmade from upcycled jeans and tshirts, grain bags and rice bags, tablecloths and curtains.

The junk orchestra will again feature, and on the entertainment stage, instruments include a petrol tank bass, a petrol tank slide guitar and a hub cap guitar.

Visitors can learn about chickens, composting, worm farming, wicking beds, aquaponics and permaculture with great displays and information. There’ll be a huge range of plants to choose from too, as well as local mushrooms to take home and farm.

And there’s a lot to learn about new solar and energy innovations.

Demonstrations include acrobatics, Zumba and Outback Wing Chun, and performances include the Boom Boom Boonah Drummers and local entertainers.

Workshops include a free drumming circle with Talkin’ the Drum, and a children’s creative recycled critter workshop, as well as native wildlife and koalas to learn about and pet.

With a big focus on organic, there’s loads of things available to purchase with organic natural haircare, cleaning and skincare products, as well as great local organic produce including local mushrooms, and tasty raw and whole foods.

Watch papermakers, metal workers, spinners and weavers, and learn how to make plarn – plastic yarn from the dreaded plastic bag.

Entry is via a gold coin.

The global theme for this year’s World Environment Day celebrations promotes zero tolerance of wildlife crime with the slogan ‘Wild for Life’, which visitors will see on specially screen printed tshirts.

The United Nations Environment Program encourages everyone to celebrate species under threat and take action to help safeguard them for future generations. The message is that whoever you are, and wherever you live; show zero tolerance for the illegal trade in wildlife which erodes precious biodiversity, robs our natural heritage and threatens the survival of species.

The killing and smuggling also undermines economies, fuels organised crime, and feeds corruption and insecurity across the globe.

Over the years World Environment Day has grown into a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries around the world. It serves as the people’s day for doing something positive for the environment, inspiring individual actions that collectively can generate a hugely positive impact on the planet.

It’s a day where we can we put aside our differences and celebrate the achievements we’ve made towards protecting the environment.