Out and About: Green Festival Chicago 2013

On Sunday, 19, 2013, the beau and I went to the Green Festival which we've done for the past 4 years. It was held at Navy Pier and we were having lovely weather that day. So it felt great on the pier. When we entered the exhibit we saw one of the beau's former co-workers at the Nature's Conservancy booth. We chatted with her for a minute and then we took a photo for their All Hands On Earth Movement and got a free t-shirt afterwards.

The dry erase board says we're eating less meat to help the environment

Next, we just walked around checking out all of the booths. Especially the food/snack booths which were all sampling their products. And I, of course, had to see all of the health and beauty exhibitors. And there were quite a few but only one of them really captured my attention. And my wallet. Browsed the photos below to see what we checked out .

                                                                                 

There were plenty of food/snack items to sample but the one I enjoyed the most was from Luna & Larry's Organic Coconut Bliss which is an alternative to ice cream. I've tried this product before but they had some new flavors. I sampled the Mocha Maca Crunch variety and it was delicious. 

Manitoba Harvest was there with samples of their Hemp Hearts and their new Hemp Pro 70 protein powder. I picked up a couple of samples but I also bought some Hemp Hearts which I have had before. They also had a twitter contest going on which I entered. And guess what? I won! Yaaaay. I got a twitter mention this morning letting me know that I won. The prize is a $100 gift certificate for Manitobaharvest.com. So, I'll be doing a little shopping soon. 

I won?!

As I mentioned earlier, I checked out all of the beauty companies and only a few captured my attention; Shea Terra Organics was one of them. I was familiar with this brand before the show and have always been intrigued by their products. This was my chance to sample and sniff all they had to offer. 

As I made my way around the booth, I saw the sign. 50% off of body creams and oils * faints* so I instantly grabbed the items I wanted most (below) and checked out. 

l-r Marula Whipped Shea Butter, Frankincense Meditation Whipped Shea Butter, Honeybush Peach Body Nectar Spray. FYI, use the code May2013 to get 30% off of your Sheaterra.com order thru 5/23. I think I'll  use that code to get a few more items. 

We needed to break for food and decided on this veggie chili and kale salad. It was from a restaurant called B' Gabs Goodies. We had never heard of this place before though it's near the beau's place. We'll definitely check out the restaurant soon. After finishing our salad we walked around a little more to see if we missed anything. Then we headed out to enjoy the rest of our day. Overall we enjoyed the festival and I'm sure well attend next year. 

Here are the samples that we picked up. l-r clockwise

Manitoba Harvest Hemp Pro 70 protein powder, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts, 

Shea Terra Organics Rose hips Black Soap

Shea Terra Organics Moroccan Argan Oil

Raw Revolution Live Food Bars

Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Cane Sugars and Agave Nectar

Dr. Bronners Lavender Coconut Lotion, Shikakai Soap, and Castile Soap

Green Festival Weekend!

This past weekend the beau and I went to the Green Festival at Navy Pier. I was able to get free passes and we took the CTA Orange line (public trans.) downtown instead of driving because parking (especially garages) is just too costly and finding a park is a game of chance it is the eco thing to do. It was the beau's first time on CTA so he finally got a taste of my frustration with public trans particularly on the 29 bus (orange line train was rather quiet) which goes to Navy Pier-it was pretty crowded.

Anyway, we got to Green Festival and walked around a bit or a lot rather. We picked up plenty of free samples, coupons, and pamphlets. We also saw a few demonstrations including the AOK Alimtox ( detox foot bath) which was pretty darn gross. And I say gross because the AOK Alimtox is suppose to draw toxins out the the body and the water or solution in the foot bath changed colors depending on what toxins were coming out of the person. Needless to say there was some pretty funky looking water in those foot baths.


We were both determined not to spend much money so the only things we bought a Green Monkey brownie and cup of Kombucha. And I also bought a Blissoma sprayable lotion and some raw vegan Cru Cacao truffles which were really, really, intense.
Cru Cacao


Blissoma Spray Lotion


That was pretty much it. We walked a little more, picked up a few more samples, and got more information on some local organizations with green missions and then we left.