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.