Thursday Getaway: Sustainability and Sweet Music Converge at Pickathon!

The annual pilgrimage to Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon has begun because Pickathon kicks off on Friday, July 31st! The three-day music festival is unique for a myriad of reasons, but we like the way The New York Times puts it: "Pickathon is an admirably decentered, medium-size festival with an emphasis on communal, progressive values - from the bands, which all play twice, a welcome festival rarity (and some of which camp out, too), to the sustainability-minded dining options, to the quirks particular to the earthy Pacific Northwest."

 

Pickathon also happens to be the only festival in the U.S. that utilizes a specific sustainability system to minimize all plastic waste. If you've ever attended a typical music festival, you're aware of the mounds of single-use trash that pile up as the days go on. It's been said that no one could hold a multi-day festival without selling bottled water. Yet Pickathon proved that statement wrong long ago. We work with Pickathon every year to allow the festival to be entirely plastic cup and bottle free.  Jake Holfield, head of recycling for Pickathon, estimated that prior to the elimination of plastic cup and bottles onsite, festival-goers used about 35,000 plastic cups and about 25,000 plastic bottles (numbers were based on 2009 estimates of attendance). Each year since then, the festival has grown, and the steel pint is now displacing 70,000-80,000+ single-use cups and bottles per weekend.

This year's artist lineup includes favorites such as Broncho, Leon Bridges and Tune-Yards, all of whom are sure to put on a performance you won't soon forget. The stages at Pickathon are designed with beauty and sustainability in mind*, and comprise what Pickathon calls "a music fantasy wonderland." We couldn't agree more, and we can't wait to head into the woods this weekend! 

*Take a look at photos from Pickathon to see what we mean, here.