1. Journal-Standard, The (Freeport, IL)
Estimated printed pages: 1
August 16, 2007
Section: News
Renewable energy fair attracts 3,500
HEATHER WALRATH
The Journal-Standard
OREGON - Crowds gathered at the Ogle County Fair Grounds in Oregon last weekend for the Illinois
Renewable Energy Association's annual fair on local sustainability and renewable energy.
In its sixth year, the fair attracted 3,500 attendants according to Sonia Vogl, Treasure for the IREA.
This year's fair featured more than100 booths and exhibits, four times as many as it had six years ago, Vogl
said.
Exhibits ranged from a booth run by the Audubon Society, one of the nation's oldest environmental groups, to
a collection of vehicles that included hybrids, an electric vehicle, and a Mercedes tiny Smart Car.
Many exhibitors also held workshops throughout the day. Keith Blackmore, former Biology and Ecology
professor at Highland Community College, and his wife Mary presented a workshop on capturing the energy
that is lost from the average U.S. home as a way to decrease reliance on foreign oil and nuclear power.
Another workshop detailed how to cost effectively eat organic. Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko left their
suburban life behind to live more simply in rural Southern Wisconsin. The couple opened the Inn Serendipity
where they serve guests fresh produce they grow on their property and in their hay bale green house. Their
presentation included 12.5 steps to eat "organic on a dime,." Those steps include eating meat more selectively
and making more environmentally-friendly lifestyle choices.
Vogl said the IREA's main goal is education and she believes that is what it accomplished with the fair. She
said that she and her husband have been involved in ecology and the environmental movement for 40 years.
They established the IREA to be part of an organization that is doing something, "We wanted to teach people
wise energy use." Vogl said.
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