Green Festival

This company is under new ownership and now the Germans have a hold of what we used to know as a great Green Festival
Now it only burns out exhibitors that think they’re getting their old Green Festival hardly any attendees come to the events

Don’t spend your money on a vendor booth! They do little to no advertising! We do tradeshows for a living and have never witnessed such a bad turnout. Do not I repeat do not base your decision on their pretty website pictures promising thousands of people.
We were at the Portland Green Festival and were promised 7,000−12,000 attendees! This was so far from the truth. Here’s how many we counted on each day
DAY ONE: 31 DAY TWO:55
DAY THREE: 69
Now, there were over 200 exhibitors.
We were promised that attendees would be paying to get into the show which to a vendor means quality leads.
This was also not the case at all. By the middle of the first day they slashed prices to 2 $ and finally to FREE. Since no legitimate advertising was done you want to know the demographic? The Portland homeless. That’s who.
I LIVE in Portland and did not witness any advertising! I own several businesses and am on IG TWITTER AND FB constantly. Never saw advertising their either! These people make big promises and under deliver.
Did I mention there were virtually NO real employees? Everyone was a volunteer knew nothing! Don’t believe me? Check out their IG feed there’s pictures of their volunteers on there!
I feel the most terrible for the new companies that were there and were made big promises. Some of them will probably go out of business because they flew themselves and their staff out for a terrible show. What a shame!!!
I even emailed the coordinator at the start of the show and was never emailed back. I continued to call and email and never got the respect for a call back.
They take your money and run!!!
So basically this company is a scam and BEWARE!

Please don’t. Just don’t. The Cow Palace is a cow pie as far as having the Green Festival goes. Sure it might have sounded like a kindred fit: all natural organic meets the rawhide nature of this venerable stadium but let’s admit that it didn’t work out. I will admit, showing up Sunday afternoon was late in the 3-​day festival’s game but not so far after lunch time that the only daily soup at the touted green-​minded central concession should have been sold out. The fries there were fine but the menu was surprisingly short and headed toward boring just as the old, tired cafeteria line itself. Completely gone was the sampling delight of years past when stellar restaurants, coffee, wine and beer purveyors like Café Gratitude and others brought their own creative and eclectic menus to a truly organic feeling food court.
But the main event of course are the scores of vendor booths with some unique, hard-​core, granola head funky or «whoa, that’s so cool» products that if things went perfectly would save the planet. There wasn’t actually a shortage of tasty food sample bites or sensuous lotions and fabrics to touch but even a vendor confirmed that 2015 was the first year at the Palace and he too hoped that it wouldn’t be the venue next year. Or should we say it won’t be the same *venues* (plural) next year? I nearly missed two whole wings of exhibits due to the weird layout of the facilities!
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed a rodeo, an American Kennel Club (Best in Show) Championship and going way back even hockey at the Cow Palace before. Just felt like even though I finally found my way back to the Green Festival after missing more years than I probably attended it, that I still wasn’t there somehow.

Wow, Green Festival – what happened???
I look forward to attending this festival EVERY year. I really loved the Concourse Exhibition Center, but we all know what’s befallen that. I was doubtful about last year’s Fort Mason venue, but I actually really enjoyed myself there. Fort Mason is gorgeous to begin with, and even though vendors and registration were spread among three buildings, the usual throngs, energy, booths, wine garden, and food vendors were there. I was eager to return this year.
But it was at Cow Palace this year (is that even within city limits?) I was willing to give it a try, but I can tell you, if the 2016 Festival is here, I won’t be back.
HORRIBLE! Dull, depressing, dark, cold, austere. Depressing neighborhood. Way too spread out, lack of continuity. No food court with the local vendors and superb cuisine varieties. Where was Loving Hut? Juicey Lucy? The Asian ladies with the garlic fries and delicious rice bowls?
Where was Rainbow Grocery and their spin-​the-​wheel game? Honest Tea? Common Ground? Renee Ponder? Dr. Bronner’s? Mantra Skin Care? Oils of Youth? Palestinian Fair Trade Olive Oil? The Clay Pot people? All of the free samples? I usually swear I won’t spend money at GF, then of course have always left with two (or more) bulging cloth bags of goodies.
This time, I bought two bags of chips.
Where was the high-​energy, communal spirit? The close, friendly, eclectic, smiling, enthusiastic crowds in cozy workshop/​lecture spaces?
This was a mere slip of a shadow of the true Green Festival. I’ve never seen it so empty. I go EVERY year, usually for two or three days, all day.
This year? Saturday only, for four hours only. Couldn’t stretch it out any longer. Wine Garden was empty. Didn’t eat at all, since the usual Food Court was absent, and the factory-​feel Cow Palace eateries were not inviting. I saw a lot of french fries and hot dogs. Didn’t bother with the garlic fries, since I KNEW they wouldn’t be the same. The cafeteria was empty. What happened to the festive Food Court with the communal picnic tables where I could sit with strangers-​who-​became-​friends while eating?
Wasn’t worth my time whatsoever. As I was leaving, I heard a man, walking with his friends, say, «I don’t know… it just doesn’t FEEL like the Green Festival this year.»
Joined Unilocal just to post this review. Yep, I was THAT disappointed. One of the most fun weekends of my year is now gone :-(

The Green Festival has been sold & is under new management. This year’s main sponsor was Volkswagen, which couldn’t be more appropriate, considering VW is under investigation for intentionally rigging their cars to pass emissions tests that they would otherwise fail. The shows vendors, food, speakers are in no way matching the quality of years past. I was helping out in a booth this year & our closest neighbors had a double booth & were selling the sort of plastic crap toys (machine guns, swords) one would expect to find in a chinatown shop. All cheap imports, nothing to do with sustainability or healthy living. Such a shame– this show is done

Okay I really need to be fair about The review and will start with the good. Pascha chocolate was amazing and UK Gentlemen Working the booth was very generous with the tastings :-) I really did not mind the cow Palace it’s not beautiful like 2014 venue Fort Mason Center but I thought it was better than that Ugly venue 2013 south the market Or San Mateo event center is freezing and pretty yucky. Parking was easy And free on the street. Fort Mason Center was night mere Parking… Some of the vendors were really organized and generous with the tastings while others were an absolute joke quarter-​inch squares of bars are you kidding me, half of little tiny macaroon absolutely insane. Cliff bar for instance didn’t even have a booth they had 2 people giving you one little inch bar which I thought was really ridiculously stingy considering they’re based in Berkeley and supposed to be in our organic/​green/​generous you’ve got to Be kidding me I was very Unimpressed With Cliff bars presence at this event especially As a major sponsor. Also where was rainbow Co-​op that was totally bizarre they’re always there I didn’t see them but maybe I was confused and missed them. Space spaceAlso I felt like there were a lot of nongreen vendors /​strange financial broker types and Tons of solar /​Home improvement/​windows etc. I really thought we were over that but they were back in full force. All the kale vendors from last year were not there and a lot of the raw foodie gluten-​free foodie people were not present this year For example the kale raw macaroon from Watsonville people were not there in 2 moms wasn’t there/​fair trade from Massachusetts with the good chocolate/​T etc. not present I think my biggest critique is why I have us go online to print out the ticket and then have to stand another line and then go through the ticket taker that was totally inefficient. I had a ticket I should Have been able to give it to the ticket taker & In I go rather than standing in some line and have someone scanned my ticket and then give me a green thing that was very strange and inefficient and not a good use of the consumer’s time. Clarification regarding the organizers, the same organizers organized last year’s event I just think it was better organized than last year/​More vendors and actually less quality green small local vendors. Get ready Unilocalers they’re supposed to be a cow Palace for 2016 stay tuned and look at the site. Also not many ways to get in free rainbow is the best way or ride a bike. Pardon any misspellings funkiness using voice-​activated.

K.H.‘s review pretty much nailed it «Dull and depressing». It’s been awhile since I’ve attended, maybe 2012, but I’ve had so much fun in the past that I was excited to take my mom who was in from out of town. This experience was a complete 180 from the last visit. We arrived at 10am and I would say at least 8 booths weren’t set up, even after walking around for about an hour. I was interested in stopping by the Young Living booth but it was one of the 8 booths that never opened. The venue set up was oddly laid out and the whole vibe was depressing and sad. I remember in the past there being a lot more vendors and variety, last time I came there were so many awesome lotion options that I had a hard time deciding which one get. This time I couldn’t even find one I wanted to buy. I would say there were about 100 more booths when I attended back in ²⁰¹¹⁄₂₀₁₂. Plus the booths that actually had things I was interested in (Go Raw booth) weren’t even selling the product onsite, just giving samples. I could have saved the $ 15 ticket and $ 15 parking price and just gone to whole Foods and sampled products in a less depressing environment.

Food is terrible, advertised as vegan but all they actually offer are veggie burgers that have been sitting in the steam table for hours (yuck) and garlic fries that are soggy and not appetizing. The signs for the «vegan» food court don’t actually lead you to the correct spot, so we wound up walking around in circles until we got desperate
And walked into a restaurant, only to find that it’s the «vegan food court». This is greatly disappointing because we always enjoyed the variety of vegan food booths at the green festival and are saddened by this poor offering.
Parking for newcomers is confusing, there is an entrance and cars get backed up down the street for it, only to find that it’s always full and can’t accept any more cars so the line of cars makes a u-​turn only to find that the main entrance is the other way. They need much better signage.
The Cow Palace smells funny and is an unlikely as well as illogical place for a vegan-​free festival, I hope they find a much better place to hold it next year. The old building they used to have it in was torn down so a much better venue is truly needed.
The attendance is poor, even the folks that work the event were complaining that there was a poor showing this year. I hope they find a great location in San Francisco proper next year, with an excellent parking lot and with a huge array of vegan food so that lots of people will attend.

2015 — Cow Palace venue — a dull, depressing location for this usually fun and lively event .
We have attended every year since this event started, but this one was a disappointment. The Cow Palace is cold, stark and has no link to the outdoors. No effort was made to warm it up, for example, with large potted plants or any kind of ‘real’ green. Considering that it is also a former arena for the glorification of the meat industry, it is a strange place for a Green Festival.
The venue damped down the usual high energy and local-​market feeling of past festivals. We also did not see a lot of the lower-​price, fun, and unusual vendors that we have enjoyed at prior festivals. We looked at a very nice mattress set — but $ 5,000 for a twin mattress with supporting slats!?! Perhaps the first-​time, home-​grown vendors have been priced out?
The food was minimal. Nothing like previous festivals, which had a variety of cuisines to choose from. We finally found a vegan hotdog — OK but not as good as the past, more creative dishes usually offered. Yet it was just as expensive.
We listened to one presentation, and the speaker tried his best, but the presentation area was not curtained off from the booths, and he had to complete with people walking up and back right in his view. In fact, very few people sat down for the talk we were listening to.
We hope that the GF will find a better location for next year and have a pricing structure that allows for the less-​well-​funded businesses as well as allowing for independent vendors to serve up tempting dishes.

Wow I’m still in shock about how much this Green Festival went down hill this year. The event moved to the sad and depressing Cow Palace. It seemed like the organizers changed. What a disappointment!
I carpooled with my friends and paid $ 15 for parking and thankfully we saved our Rainbow Grocery receipts (over $ 25) so we were able to get our tickets for $ 1 each instead of $ 15. It took a while at the ticket booth because they had to enter our information on the Ticket Master system and the woman that helped me was typing with one finger. Once we entered, it was dark and there was no natural light at all which added to the depressing vibe.
We were hungry since it was lunch time when we arrived so we were in search of the vegan food booths that we were familiar with in previous years, like Lydia’s Organic food, but they weren’t there. All the food was provided by the stadium vendors and it was a very poor attempt at vegan/​vegetarian food such as salad, couscous, cheese pizza and french fries. I did see a vegan hot dog but found out the bun was not vegan so I didn’t get it. At this point, we decided to check out the booths and see if we could get samples to curb our hunger.
We went through the 3 different halls in about an hour and a half. We wondered what happened to all the exhibitors? I remember last year I wasn’t even able to see every booth in one day but this year was completely different. I can’t even imagine why anyone would need a 2 or 3 day pass for this event. Once I walked out the front door and saw the sunlight I was happy to be leaving that sad place. We headed elsewhere to get a decent vegan meal. I won’t be returning next year unless the venue changes and they bring the old organizers back.

The Cow Palace was just ok — lots of space… maybe too much. The biggest let down was the food. I have been going for the past 4 years and the food is always so fresh and local. This year I refused to even buy any food. It looked like it was all vended by the cow palace and it looked icky. HUGE let down and I may not attend again if it’s the same venue.

I had a blast, I volunteered but also got to walk around, loved it. So much creative Eco-​friend innovation and design I was blown away. I loved the solar stove! So many samples and so much learning about the environment and all the things you can be doing organically you wouldn’t even guess! I had a blast, can’t wait till next year.

My first time attending the Green Festival in SF and I would say «I’ll be back»…
Don’t worry peeps it’s not a place where hippies roam the earth. Vendors insisting on you buying their products. It’s a place where you can check out organic, green friendly food & products.
They had so many vendors there, that I wasn’t sure if we could check them out in just one day, but luckily we did. Vendors were giving out free tastings or better yet giving out mini samples of their products to take home. We took home an enormous amount of free schwag and awesome coupons for purchase of items we buy on a regular basis.
Very well organized. I have to give mad props to the volunteers. They helped assist us n00bs to the right place and properly dispose of our garbage.
My only complaint was there was not enough food vendors, meaning restaurants serving cooked food. I would have also liked to see more food demonstrations as well.
Maybe next year… see you at Fort Mason in 2014. (This is the last year they will be at the Concourse Expo Center)
411: Don’t buy your tickets onsite. Go to Livingsocial, Goldstar, etc or go to their website and they have offers.

A crowded madhouse. Be careful of many germ-​infested people who cough and sneeze without covering themselves. Some friends developed a cold and cough soon after, and this festival was probably the source of the virus.
Still, learned about many new companies and green products. Hemp hearts and Dr. Bronner’s gave awesome samples. Wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much without the complimentary tickets. Fair trade artisan crafts, crowded food vendors, fire sale on books, and plenty of organic food samples make this worth a one-​time visit. Not sure it’s worth attending every year. Be patient and street parking can be found within a few minutes walk.

I always look forward to this festival.
It never lets me down — when it comes to discovering new innovative green friendly products, meeting fantastic people, and indulging in sensational vegan food.
The Green Festival really is a phenomenal way to stay on top of your health and learn about ways you can improve it — whether it be through better posture, new green recipes, all natural skin products, natural eating utensils and more.
Each year it gets bigger and bigger — but the staff that put it together only get more and more organized and they do an impressive job of creating a green wonderland.
Indulging in Lydia’s sensational fruit pie, while talking with kind vegan folks from Santa Rosa, in between high-​fiving a lovely hippy soul from Arizona — while supporting Green friendly and Green aware businesses — is the way to be.
Trust.

Twas good organic fun! I mostly went to see the food, and it didn’t disappoint. I ate a knish and Three Twins ice cream for the first time. I also had a lot of samples, that included a generous portion of Ben and Jerry’s cookies and cream ice cream, chips and salsa, orange creamsicle spirulna kale… and more! It’s amazing what kinds of foods are out there that are better for you and better for the environment.
The only booth I found surprising was PG&E. Remember San Bruno? Hinkley and Erin Brockovich? I guess they’re doing their part in being eco-​friendly, but perhaps they need to focus on safety and social responsibility.
The one minor thing I didn’t like was that at the end of the festival, some of the outside solicitors got inside. I was harassed for not signing a petition about the death penalty. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to sign it, but that the lady was super aggressive and was rude. I hope next time they leave them outside.
And a big THANK YOU to Unilocal for the tickets!!!

A huge plus were the multiple options for free entrance. I stopped by Rainbow Grocery to spend $ 10 for lunch & used that receipt to get in free.
There were tons of booths. Had no clue so many were providing samples. A free scoop of Ben and Jerry’s! Heck yes! Who knew shelled hemp seeds have a lot of protein, omega-​3 & amino acids? Not me.
Lotus foods sampled rice. OMG, I bought 3 (1lb) bags for $ 10! Eeek a bit pricey but tasty! My heart was won by the volcano rice & forbidden (black) rice.
Despite all the sampling, the presentations were informative & the main reason I attended.

Came here 6 months ago and at the most recent Green Festival. This time had a lot more vendors and speakers. What they gain in quantity has lost in quality. This year seems like the same stuff being sold, not about new stuff coming out.
Only new thing was the Quantum Scalar Stone Ion Energy Japan Volcano Stone Scam. They pull people sideways without and pull people directly down with the pendent on.
It was nice place to go and see and talk to some of the vendors. Like the one Indian food, giving some of his food away for a women who only had $ 3.

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Love it if you are all for green! I’m not so much. Everything I love about green, but I’m a flesh meat eater, well, don’t hate! Hey, last I check you pay for my freaking meal, heyyyyy!
Nice folks, hippies, bohemians of all! It’s all good, but let me say this, once you stop wearing, leather belts, bags, shoes, and leather chair cars, than you can come back to preach me! Please don’t preach papa if you don’t practice, hey!

This year, I was able to get a free Unilocal ticket to the Green Festival. This is my second time coming and getting free stuff when I come. Since my friend had to leave around 2pm, we came early. That morning, Amy Goodman was speaking at the podium. But we really didn’t get time to listen.
There were many of the same vendors there from the previous year and then a few that were new. I really enjoy coming for the food and free samples. I wish that there was more to it than that, but I haven’t been impressed yet by the festival.

G R E E N F E S T I V A L S P R I N G ’ 1 0 ! !
This was the first time SF did the festival in the spring! I volunteered last week for the festival set up with the Bike Valet (Friday 3pm-7:30pm)!!! Got in for free the next day! So much fun! Met lots of other awesome volunteers and got to talk to different vendors! It’s great to buy products at this festival. A lot of the prices are cheaper than retail prices and may be limited in quantity!
A few highlights…
— Insect Discovery Lab: touched a millipede, and a hissing cockroach
— Clif Bar: sampled their new white chocolate macadamia nut! yum!
— McEvoy Ranch & Sapothecary: got 3 handmade soaps (lavender and glacial mud) for $ 10!
— Blue Lotus: bought veggie bags (3 for $ 8.50)
— Dr. Bronner’s Magic: got lots of bath samples
— less crowded = more space :)
— lots of samples to try!
Though there were a lot fewer vendors than during the fall, I really enjoyed taking my time to browse through the festival! I was there from 10am til about 12:30pm. There were many new vendors there, and some old! :D It still took me a few hours to see all of the booths! There was just soooo much to absorb! I highly recommend coming in November!!!
Go green: walk 15 mins from the SF Caltrain Depot

It’s the first year that the Green Festival is here in San Francisco in the Spring (they usually are only here annually in November, they’ll be back again November this year too). It took me awhile to get used to the landscape of the festival as there was so much to see, buy, taste and hear that was «green» — loved it! I would try to write all about it in detail, but it’s just too much, too much! You just have to go there and experience it for yourself tomorrow or in November when it comes back! Go, go *green*!
Note: If you take public transportation to the Fest, you get in for $ 5 — I was there all day from 11AM til 6PM, what a great day!