From Joyce's Desk: Fun at SF Green Festival

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to exhibit Coco-Zen at this year's Green Festival in San Francisco, but I did get to spend a couple hours Friday afternoon checking it out with Max and saying hi to a few new friends. Here's a little photo recap of our visit (some of the pics were taken on my Blackberry, so not the greatest quality - sorry!).

With my little guy in tow, I donned my vegan shoes from Bamboo and my ReBagz sling bag and headed out to the SF Concourse over by the Gift Mart.



Once we got there, we stopped by the Coop America (soon to be Green America) member booth and got our pass for the day. Into the main hall we were immediately distracted by ALL the Clif Bar samples for the tasting. I didn't know they had sooooo many flavors! I discovered "Carrot Cake" (yummy!), while Max seemed to enjoy the "Peanut Butter & Jelly". Next we walked by the Manitoba Harvest booth selling hemp seed nuts. I figured I had to try them - tasted kind of like raw walnuts (interesting).



As we headed deeper into the halls, there was an amazing number of people (got a little too hard to take pictures while maneuvering Max in his stroller). I have to say, it was interesting to see that the Green Festival has become quite "main stream" as the number of folks in t-shirts, jeans and baseball hats far outnumbered those in dreadlocks and hemp clothing.

We took a little break from the crowds and headed into the "dining" area, where a cool band was playing. Max decided he needed to get up and do a little dance - I think he was trying to impress that cute little girl in the pink dress.



As we strolled around the food court, I quickly spotted the Organic Beer & Wine Garden...yes!! Max, however, happily settled for some refreshing organic lemonade.



There was also lots of yummy food to be had. I was especially amazed at how gorgeous the raw foods looked...and NOT just salads! Too bad we already had lunch - so many things I wanted to try. Of course, there's always room for a little Fair Trade chocolate tasting.



Before leaving, we wanted to make sure we said hi to a few new friends. Over at WorldOfGood.com, Alan posed for some pictures with Max. I ended up doing a quick little video interview as one of their sellers (scary...wondering if they will really post it on their blog), while Max scored some chocolate bars. In the booth next door was TransfairUSA (yeah Fair Trade!!!) We stopped to say hi and drop off a few Coco-Zen brochures.



Finally, it was time to head back home. On the way out, we stopped by Pangea Organics and picked up a couple of soap samples (the cinnamon with cloves is scrumptious smelling, and I love their packaging). Outside, the Drink No Evil bus eerily sat in the moonlight - almost like a last minute warning as you leave the festival.