Fest's ecological efforts go beyond Eno

DURHAM -- The annual party that celebrates one of the cleanest and prettiest rivers in the Piedmont just keeps getting greener.

The Festival for the Eno, which began Wednesday, has always offered a serious dose of environmentalism along with its food, music, T-shirts and crafts.

This year, the Eno River Association, which sponsors the gathering, employed a full-time education and outreach director to work with school science teachers and get people to the river for hands-on learning.

"Let them see what it is we're protecting," said Kathy Lee, the education director.

Also new this year was a designated spot on festival grounds for businesses that fit houses with solar collectors or provide organic lawn care.

Thousands of festival-goers on Wednesday became environmentalists, at least for a few seconds when they tossed their garbage. About 100 volunteers over the festival's three days are tending trash bins and garbage bags, making sure that nothing that can be recycled or composted gets sent to a landfill.

Only about 10 percent of what festival-goers throw away goes in landfill-bound bags, said Judy Stafford, who leads the festival's trash-free program committee.

Martha Darden of Raleigh was about to throw away her fork but found out it was made of potato starch or wheat. The straws look like plastic, too -- but they're made of corn sugar.

She found the biodegradable fork so unusual that she wiped it off and put it in her purse.

"I've never heard of such a thing that would decompose," she said.

Going to a river festival is a good excuse to splash in the water. The children's tent handed out nets to those who wanted to seek small critters.

A half-dozen boys probed the river's rocky bottom with their nets, trying to catch a crayfish.

"If you keep flipping up the water, it's never going to come out," said Taylor LaForge, a 15-year-old from Durham. The crayfish eluded capture, and Taylor went to find a spot that wasn't as crowded.

The river is low these days because of dry weather. Lee, the education director, said it's good for children to learn about droughts, too, because it makes them mindful of how much water they use.

"We can extend our message," she said. "We're part of a bigger world."