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Green Gatherings

6th Annual La Familia Latino Family Festival & Expo

Event Overview
Location (City/Venue): 
Saint Paul RiverCentre, St. Paul, MN
Number of Attendees: 
4000-5000
Organization Hosting Event: 
Aguilar Productions
Brief Background on Event: 

The 6th annual La Familia Latino Family Festival & Expo is the largest Hispanic Heritage Month celebration in the Midwest.
The goal of La Familia is to motivate and educate our Latino attendees. Our expo areas include, Health, Home and Auto, books and publications, Education, Culture, Technology and Travel & Entertainment.

Food
Food Practices: 
Provided information to vendors on using locally grown and/or organic food
Required safe food handling practices
Waste & Recycling
Waste Management Methods Used: 
Trash Disposal
Recycling
Program Audiences: 
Recycling - Vendors/Exhibitors
Recycling - Event Participants
Waste Reduction
Waste Reduction Methods Used: 
Use of technology to minimize paper waste (e.g. online registration, webcasting, no printing of meeting materials
Use of reusable plates, silverware, and linene
Use of reusable or recyclable decorations or signs
Resource and Energy Use
Energy Reduction Methods Used: 
Held event at a facility that uses green power (e.g., Saint Paul RiverCentre)
Travel and Transportation
Location Selection: 
Held event at a venue easily accessible by transit
Results
Please describe any other known environmental benefits from sustainability initiatives at your event: 

We did not print 30,000 tickets for the events...rather we had them available on our website. Attendees could print them out is they wanted to attend. Also promoted the event through eblast...rather than mailing out 10,000 invites as we did in the pass.

What has been your biggest success in terms of green initiatives at your event?: 

Our event was one of the largest Hispanic indoor events to go "green" . Although we took baby steps is was a start that we want to continue and progress and the event moves forward.

What has been your biggest challenge in terms of green initiatives at your event?: 

Getting our vendors and sponsors to plan for a "green" event in terms of their exhibits, use of paper products, food etc. This year we want to announce our "green" effort 4 months before the event and show them examples they can do to join our efforts to make La Familia a successful "green" event.

How were the green initiatives received by event attendees and/or vendors?: 

We feel that our attendees and vendors want to join the effort and we need to build up that support and turn it into action.

Will you plan to implement green initiatives again?: 

YES....we hope to make La Familia an example of a successful indoor "green" event.