The volunteer-run Uraidla Sustainability Fair is bringing back old favourites, such as the beloved Charge Up The Hill bike trek from Norwood Memorial Gardens to the Uraidla Showgrounds for its 20th anniversary this weekend.
“It started from small beginnings with the sustainability fair 20 years ago, with a small group of people up in Uraidla wanting to bring community members together – and now it’s seven or eight hundred people coming throughout the day,” Craig Jones, Uraidla Sustainability Secretary, said.
With more than 40 local market stallholders set to be at the fair this year, the expansion of the event since its inception is testament to growing importance South Australians are placing on sustainable practise.
“We always focus, with the panel discussion and the sustainable conversations, on what community members can take away and action for themselves,” Jones said.
This year’s expert-led panel on “Preparing for an extreme climate: Hope and Action” will provide solutions to everyday life problems caused by climate change.
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Jones said the panel “will kind of have a look at that retrospective of where we’ve come in the last 20 years and what might the next 20 years look like when it comes to sustainable communities”.
Sophie Thomson of ABC’s “Gardening Australia” and “Sophie’s Patch” is a new panellist this year and will discuss how people can adapt their gardening at home to facilitate a more sustainable lifestyle.
“Sophie’s coming from a point of view of ‘how do we have resilient planting and resilient spaces that are going to tolerate changes in climate?’” Jones said.
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Topics including bird biodiversity, fire resilience, wicking bed construction, kelp restoration and composting strategies will be discussed in some of the 15 other intimate conversations being held around the grounds on the day.
Jones said fair goers will leave with a better understanding of how every day behaviours can go towards a better climate future.
Besides the talks, the fair will include plenty of vegan and vegetarian lunch options from paella-centric Oranaise and whole foods provider Let Them Eat. Other food outlets include Cart & Souls, Hokey Pokey Stirling and Four Seeds Brownies.
Stallholders will be selling everything from sustainable clothing to cookware, and with a kinder gym available to keep even the littlest attention spans entertained.
Karen Waterman, one of the stallholders, is the owner of sustainably sourced raffia basket weaving business Raffia & Twine.
Her basket weaving workshops and kits re-enforce this year’s theme of resilience, through promoting sustainable production of handmade crafts.
“You can make it yourself. The idea is that you can buy a kit. Everything’s in the kit that you need – everything in the kit is sustainable, apart from the needle. There’s no plastic in it at all.” Waterman said.
There will be music from Uraidla’s own Uraidla Town Band, with three additional live bands to be announced.
The Uraidla Sustainability Fair will be held in the Uraidla Showground on March 16 from 10am to 4pm.
Single tickets are $5 and a $10 offer is available to families, entry is free for children under 12.
