Home » For Event Planning » Case Studies

Green Gatherings

Grand Old Day: 2010

Event Overview
Location (City/Venue): 
Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105
Number of Attendees: 
200,000+
Organization Hosting Event: 
Grand Avenue Business Association
Brief Background on Event: 

2010 / 37th Annual Grand Old Day. One-day festival including run/walk/rollerblade, parade, family activities, sporting organizations, art fair, 7 festival gardens and over 150 food/merchandise vendors. Event spans 2.5 miles.

grand old days recycling bins 1
grand old days recycling bins 2
Food
Food Practices: 
Required safe food handling practices
Other: 

We attempted food/waste recycling in 2009 and didn't continue the program in 2010 due to the amount of contamination.

Waste & Recycling
Waste Management Methods Used: 
Trash Disposal
Recycling
Program Audiences: 
Recycling - Event Participants
Additional Information: 

Ramsey County's clearstream bins were used in GABA's 3 festival gardens to collect plastic/aluminum. Each festival garden had a designated recycling dumpster for the plastic/aluminum as well as cardboard.

Waste Reduction
Waste Reduction Methods Used: 
Use of technology to minimize paper waste (e.g. online registration, webcasting, no printing of meeting materials
Double-sided printing
Electronic press kit
Use of reusable or recyclable decorations or signs
Other: 

For 2010, all applications were done online. We used google docs.
Our sponsorship packet was online as a PDF.
We reused much of our signage from 2009.

Travel and Transportation
Transportation amenities offered at event: 
Park and Rides
Free busing/bus passes
Bike racks/parking
Transportation information promoted to event attendees/volunteers/vendors/exhibitors: 
Metro Transit Trip Planner
Bike maps
Location Selection: 
Held event at a venue easily accessible by transit
Additional Information: 

- Free downloadable pass from Metro Transit
- Link to Metro Transit trip planner on website
- promotion of new bike racks all along Grand
- free bike parking on Ayd Mill Bridge with St. Paul SmartTrips
- SmartTrips promoted Commuter Challenge & Bike/Walk Week during Grand Old Day
- Mpls & St. Paul bike maps linked to on website

Construction and Deconstruction
Rental of temporary structures (e.g., stages, tenting)
Other: 

- rental of all structures (tents, stages, toilets, tables, chairs, etc)

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

Taking steps to become more environmentally friendly. Great partnerships (GreenGatherings, Ramsey County, Metro Transit, Smart Trips)! Education & awareness for event attendees.

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

Logistics, cost, manpower and the size/layout of our event. We've kicked off recycling in our festival gardens and would like to expand the efforts further, but haven't figured out the right logistics yet. With a 2.5 mile footprint and the use of 700 event trash boxes throughout the event, we are trying to expand recycling in phases - Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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

The recycling bins have been great - guests fill them up! Based on feedback from event attendees, they would like to see MORE recycling at the event.

Will you plan to implement green initiatives again?: 

Yes.

And we REALLY appreciated the use of the Ramsey County Clearstream bins!!!