Mar Vista’s Bounty Hunter (Christy Wilhelmi) to Speak at Los Angeles Green Festival

While the Green Festival is about to celebrate its 10th year, 2011 marks the first year the event will be held in Los Angeles. The festival will run this weekend –Oct 29-30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles.

The Green Festival is a non-profit event designed to explore and build sustainable solutions and create a healthy environment. It’s a joint project of Green America and Global Exchange and is being produced with festival partners Ford Motor, The Los Angeles Times, Sierra Club, Earth Balance and Democracy Now.

The festival will be a one-stop-shop for attendees to learn about green practices, attend DIY workshops, visit green businesses, enjoy local music and eat vegetarian and vegan cuisine. There will even be an organic beer and wine garden. The event is also an opportunity to meet with local green community leaders.

One of those leaders will be Mar Vista resident and , who also runs her own website and blog, Gardenerd. Wilhelmi writes Patch's Mar Vista's Bounty Hunter column, where she goes in search of great produce at the , and offers up gardening tips and great recipes.

Wilhelmi will speak on Sun. Oct. 30 at 2 p.m in the Sustainable Home and Garden Pavilion about heirlooms and open-pollinated seeds. In an interview with Patch, Wilhelmi said she was honored to be included in the festival.

"There's going to be a mountain of information and really great experiences for everybody," she added.

Wilhelmi said she was initially approached to be a vendor at the festival but requested to be a speaker instead. With her expertise in small space gardening, the festival organizers were eager to have her speak about seed saving and her speciality subject of heirloom and open-pollinated plants. 

"Most people think that heirlooms apply to just tomatoes," Wilhelmi said, "but every variety has an heirloom and at least one open-pollinated variety. I’m hoping people will come away [from my session] with the knowledge to start saving their own seeds  so they can move away from hybrid varieties."

Wilhelmi also said she plans to spend the entire day at the festival to learn about all the great green initiatives on offer.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has already pledged to make Los Angeles one of the world’s greenest cities and will officially open the festival on Saturday. Romel Pascual, Villaraigosa’s deputy mayor of environment said in statement that the mayor “is happy to welcome the Green Festival to Los Angeles and looks forward to opening the festival on Oct. 29.”

The festival will feature 10 stages and pavilions and will host more than 125 educational speakers and teachers.

Highlights include the latest in earth-friendly casual wear and couture at the eco-fashion show; socially and environmentally impactful film shorts at the Communications Revolution Stage and the Sierra Club Green Cinema; the latest in environmentally responsible construction materials and methods in the Green Building Pavilion; meditation and yoga sessions at the Movement Pavilion and green business seminars.

Along with cooking demonstrations and a Green Kids Zone, there will also be the opportunity to check out  (and test drive) the latest in all-electric and hybrid transportation at the Ford Pavilion.

Jonathan Parfrey, Climate Resolve Executive Director and a commissioner at the Department of Water & Power Board said in a statement, "We're excited to host the inaugural Green Festival in Los Angeles and bring Angelenos together to learn how to bring sustainability into their lives. For those of us who care about Los Angeles and its future, the Green Festival is a place to talk about climate change and how to prepare to adapt."

Click here for the complete program guide to the Green Festival Los Angeles.

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