Oklahoma City Arts Festival Opens Greener This Year

By NEWS 9 Staff

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Artists and patrons are ready for the annual Festival of the Arts in downtown Oklahoma City.

Artists from all over the country have been setting up shop, getting the finishing touches done before the Festival kicked off Tuesday.

Paul Counts drove 1,400 miles from California to display his work in the show.

"We're happy to be here in Oklahoma City," he said. "We're really honored to be part of the show."

The throngs of people enjoying the arts are expected to add up to 750,000.

It's busy and signs can get lost in the crowd, but there are new ones this year that are hard to miss. It's the first year for the Go Green initiative.

In addition to great art and favorite foods like Strawberries Newport, festival director Angela Cozby said patrons can expect some more environmentally-friendly features.

"We have recycling bins on grounds for water bottles," Cozby said. "We'll have volunteers on site in go-green T-shirts just educating the public on how something like this can be eco-friendly."

This is year one of a five year plan to become as waste free as possible.

It is the first year organizers have offered recycling bins at the festival site. To go along with green efforts, bike racks have been placed around the festival area.

Many of the cleaning products are earth friendly. Educational videos about the environment are also being played at booths.

Reinforcing recycling education is something moms like Stacey Orton said are perfect for children who are learning about taking care of the planet.

"They can see it and do it themselves. I think that's a really good lesson," Orton said.

Festival leaders said they distributed about 20 of recycling bins around the site.

The festival opens at 11 a.m. each day and runs through Sunday. For more information, visit the Arts Council of Oklahoma City's Web site.