SolarFest postponed until 2018

Andrew McKeever

GNAT-TV News Project

MANCHESTER — Organizers of the annual SolarFest, a celebration and festival which promotes solar and other renewable forms of energy, have decided to postpone this year’s planned event.

An announcement released Tuesday, May 30, stated that the festival faced “considerable financial constraints,” and that the organizers of it had been unable to negotiate an affordable site for this year.

Last year, the event moved to Manchester  in a change of venue from its long-running site in Tinmouth, and was held at the Southern Vermont Arts Center. This year’s event had been planned for July 21-23 later this year.

The festival was expected to be held again at the arts center, but Michael Bailey, one of the organizers of the festival and SolarFest’s treasurer, said they weren’t able to reach agreement on a price with the arts center.

“We enjoyed the facilities there tremendously,” he said in a phone interview.

Organizers are holding conversations with other venues both elsewhere in Vermont and out-of-state as well, and interest has surfaced from locations in New York and Massachusetts, he added.

“We’ve ruled nothing out,” he said.

Despite he postponement, the relationship between the arts center and SolarFest remains a positive one, according to Joan Teaford, the interim executive director of the arts center.

SolarFest has held two events at the arts center since last summer’s festival — one in November and one last March — for which the arts center donated the space free of charge, she said in an email message.

Meanwhile, SolarFest’s organizers hope to continue with other special events and educational programs, similar to the ones they staged earlier this year at the arts center. The one in March, 2017 focused explaining how financial and energy savings could be obtained through energy conservation and renewable power.

 “We’re still interested in exploring every aspect of our mission — kids, arts, theater,” Bailey said, adding that the need for this was more pressing than ever given the possibility that the U.S. might withdraw from the Paris climate accords. That agreement is an effort to coordinate approaches by 195 nations to reduce greenhouse gases and other factors driving climate change, and was agreed to in 2015. However, press reports this week suggest the  Trump administration may opt to withdraw from the agreement.

SolarFest began in 1995 as a weekend event that brought together artists and environmental advocates for a combination of entertainment and information sharing about solar power and other renewable energy sources.

Over a 20 year span it was held at different locations in Middletown Springs, Poultney and Tinmouth until 2014, when the location they had held the event at stopped being available. After a one-year hiatus in 2015, when a smaller scale event was held in Tinmouth, organizers struck an agreement to move the event to Manchester, where it was held last year. The arts center was considered a good fit with the festival, which has featured an artistic component with live musical entertainment and other art being part of the overall event.

The hiatus in 2017 provides time for organizational improvements and exploring options for a new venue for the weekend festival, festival organizers stated in an email.
“We plan to use this year to gather important feedback from the community, strengthen the organization, develop relationships with existing and new partners, and expand the base of expert
practitioners who inform us about best practices and innovations,” Michael Bailey stated in the email announcement. “More than ever we are looking to the dedicated members of our community for support.”