Green Expo now two days, with focus on water

Elgin’s 4th annual Green Expo is embracing 2012 as the Year of Water and incorporating the Fox River into its now two-day event May 4-5.

The Expo will include a Midwest Green Car Expo, farmers market, garden area, Eco-Bazaar, wellness center, EcoBar, more than 175 vendor booths and activities for kids along with the river-related fun.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources will harvest fish from the Fox River Thursday for a 5,000-gallon aquarium to put on display for the expo. The fish will be released back into the river after the event.

Sigi Psimenos, one of six main organizers for the expo, said adding a second day was to accommodate a sustainability-focused municipal symposium. Special events open to the public Friday include a water rescue and recovery team demonstration by the Elgin Fire Department from 4 to 7 p.m. followed by live entertainment until 10 p.m. All exhibits and vendor booths will open at 1 p.m. in The Centre, 100 Symphony Way.

While “green” is a term that has been claimed for a variety of meanings in recent years, Psimenos said the Green Expo uses a holistic definition.

“Being green will help promote economic, environmental and community values,” Psimenos said. “That’s what this expo is about — so we don’t deplete the resources that we have right now for future generations.”

The event will feature fair trade clothing, locally grown food sold by local vendors. Even the budget is sustainable, according to Psimenos, who said the free admission is paid for by tiered vendor fees and sponsors with no buy-in from the City of Elgin.

Rich Hirschberg, president of the Fox Valley Electric Automobile Association, is the chairman of the Midwest Green Car Expo, set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 5 in The Centre parking lot on Symphony Way. The DeLorean electric vehicle will be on site until noon with a variety of hybrid, electric and alternative fuel vehicles for the show.

Hirschberg said he has always been a car nut and got into electric vehicles about a decade ago.

“I still like a good old V8 and a Harley-Davidson but we’ve got to wean ourselves off of foreign oil,” Hirschberg said.

Several members of the electric automobile association have converted their own cars, doing away with the internal combustion engine — they will be on hand for the show as well.

Visit midwestgreencarexpo.weebly.com or elgingreenexpo.org for more.