Solar Rock 2010 poster

4th Annual free Solar Rock festival coming up on Saturday March 27 at Himmel Park, 12 to 6 p.m. There will be the usual 100% solar powered concert on Himmel Park’s “hippie hill”, speakers, food for sale, activities for children, and educational, environmental booths with lots and lots of info on solar power. Fun for all. You can also enter to win a bike donated by Fairwheel Bikes, & other great prizes in the Solar Rock Raffle.

Solar Rock is “an annual 100% Solar Powered festival that aims to educate individuals about renewable energy, climate change, and sustainability.” Live music to be performed by Spirit Familia, Kevin Pakulis, Run Boy Run, Mitzi Cowell, Leila Lopez, Bruce Phillips, Sonar, and others. Click here for the schedule of performers and speakers.

Confirmed speakers to date:

* Vice Mayor Rodney Glassman, City of Tucson Councilmember in Ward 2, co-author with his wife Sasha, of 2010 children’s book “Jeremy Jackrabbit Harvests the Rain”

* Bob Oldfather, Founder & CEO of Bookman’s Entertainment Exchange, champion of recent initiative to make Tucson into “The Solar City”-the capitol of solar design, manufacturing, and installations for the world

*Neil Armstrong, Director of the Department of Energy – Energy Frontier Research Center for Interface Science: Solar Electric Materials & UA Professor of Chemistry/Optical Sciences

* Tony Vaccaro, Owner of Brooklyn Pizza Company and Sky Bar (“an astronomy influenced solar powered planetarium bar”)

* Melanie Lenart, Researcher at the UA’s Institute of the Environment and author of the new book “Life in the Hothouse: How a Living Planet Survives Climate Change”.

* Marc Romito, Renewable Energy Program Manager at Tucson Electric Power (TEP)

Himmel Park is located to the east of Tucson Blvd. between E. 1st Street and E. 3rd Street, and goes as far east as Treat Blvd, all south of E. Speedway, in the Sam Hughes Neighborhood.

I’ve been attending every year and there are always new inventions/ideas/projects/booths in the mix of environmental groups there.

See www.solarrocktucson.com for more info.

Don’t forget the sunscreen.

Mini-facials, massages, other exciting pampering for women only in the courtyard at Old Town Artisans, 201 N. Court Ave. in downtown Tucson, on Sunday March 21, 3 to 6 p.m.
Entry is free, open to women (and their male friends of course) of all ages.

This is the fourth time this event has been offered at Old Town Artisans, and will consist of live music (jazz duo), flamenco dancing, a delicious Mexican buffet by La Cocina, a raffle of goodies, arts & crafts, even “mocktails” (no alcohol) for the children. This festive, community event promotes women artists, entrepreneurs, and causes. Mini-facials will cost $10, and massages are $1 for a minute.

Count me in. After all, March is Women’s Herstory Month, and what better way to tell your story than by looking and feeling good, and being pampered. And a portion of the proceeds and the money raised from the raffle from this Every Woman event goes to Tucson’s Primavera Foundation (www.primavera.org), an agency that assists the homeless.

courtyard at Old Town Artisans

And if you miss this Every Woman event on March 21, calendar the next one for Sunday May 30, same time, same place, same good fun. For more info contact organizer Marie Hancock at 520-822-6222, or at mariecloseness@yahoo.com.

Old Town Artisans is in an 150 year old adobe building in the El Presidio Historic District, and houses La Cocina Restaurant (Southwest fare), two art galleries (Dawn Stewart and The Outpost), and three shops (Tolteca Tlacuilo, Old Town Pot Shop, and La Zia). Something for everyone’s gift giving needs can be found here, plus you can relax and eat in their lovely, shaded Spanish style courtyard next to a charming fishpond (with live goldfish), pictured above.

For information on Old Town Artisans, call 520-623-6024, info@oldtownartisans.com, website: http://oldtownartisans.com/ .

Old Town Artisans is located one block north of Alameda, one block west of Church Avenue, between the Tucson Museum of Art (to the west) and the El Presidio de San Agustin (to the east). Experience the charm of downtown and that Old Town feeling of the “true historic Tucson experience.”

Go green with your business tomorrow at the Launch Luncheon of the new Southern Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce (SAGCC) at the Tucson Association of Realtors’ meeting room, 12 to 2 p.m., at 2445 N. Tucson Blvd. (north of Grant Rd.)

Learn how to benefit from Green Education, Green Business Development, Collaboration and Networking, and Green Advocacy.

The mission of the new SAGCC (non-profit trade association of businesses, organizations, students and individuals) is: “to foster the success of green business and enterprise in Southern Arizona by uniting members under the premises of sustainable business practices.”

There are 3 levels of membership:

Level one is open to everyone at the first level. The first level involves signing a pledge to “make environmentally-responsible choices over the next year to preserve, protect, and promote a sustainable future.”

Level two: For our second level, SAGCC has adopted the City of Tucson’s Green Business Certification Program. “Businesses in the program will undergo an audit to verify that green standards are being practiced.”

Level three: SAGCC will “develop industry specific green certification programs allowing industry groups to collaborate on sustainability.”

Go to this free launch luncheon tomorrow to find out more about what all this means for you & your business.

Info on their website: www.sagcc.org, RSVP to info@SAGCC.org, 520-306-6475 (John Brown, Executive Director).

SAGCC logo