By Joel van der Veen
June 28, 2010

CRAIK - If only it were possible to guarantee the sun would shine all weekend long by holding a fair in its honour.

But Shirley Eade, one of the organizers behind the fourth annual Craik Solar Fair, had no choice but to pray for good weather.

"I put in an order, so I'm seeing what kind of pull I got," she said with a smile.

Fortunately for Eade, the weekend was largely a sunny one, and the rain mostly held off until Sunday afternoon.

As many as 100 visitors were expected at the fair, held at the town's Eco-Centre from June 18 to 20. The event offered workshops, seminars, a trade show featuring more than 20 vendors and a farmer's market, all in the name of promoting sustainable, environmentally-friendly living.

The idea behind the fair is to attract visitors by bringing all the green living experts to one place, Eade said, adding that most of the traffic comes from outside of the community.

"We don't actually get a lot of people from town out to the seminars," she said. "It's a bit of a niche crowd."

The event kicked off Friday night with a performance by singer-songwriter Glenn Sutter and a short speech by Vladimir Mravcak, CEO of Regina-based Atlantis Research Labs, before a crowd of about 20.

Mravcak's company plans to build a large solar farm and research facility in Craik, located south of the Eco-Centre, with construction beginning this summer. The company will also begin research into thermoelectric power, collecting energy through heat rather than light.

Sutter, who works as a curator at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina, played a selection of his own tunes and a couple of cover songs, accompanying himself on the guitar and harmonica.

"I think what you guys are working on here is the way ahead," he told the crowd during his performance.

Sutter, chair of the Saskatchewan Education for Sustainable Development Network, said he was invited to perform on Friday because of his interest in the fair and other similar projects.

"I'm pretty plugged into things that are happening around sustainability," he said. "My dream is to live in a straw-bale house."

Fair events were scheduled throughout Saturday and Sunday. Seminar topics included solar greenhouses, gardening, beekeeping and alternative housing.

Vendors and groups represented at the trade show included the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, Rock The Boat Books and Nature's Kick Honey. Craik native and author Amy Jo Ehman hosted the launch of her new book, Prairie Feast: A Writer's Journey Home for Dinner, while a documentary, Numen: The Nature of Plants, was screened on Saturday evening.

Biologist and environmentalist Lynn Oliphant delivered the keynote address on Sunday afternoon, speaking on "The Clash Between Our Economy and Economic Reality."

Eade said that Oliphant, professor emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan and a founding member of the Prairie Institute for Human Ecology, had spoken at the fair in previous years and often drew a large crowd.

"He's an awesome guy," she said. "He's infectious with his enthusiasm."

The fair is one of several ventures developed by the Craik Sustainable Living Project, an organization formed in 2002 to address both the issue of climate change and the need for socio-economic revitalization within the community.

Other projects include the Eco-Village, a sustainable housing development initiated in 2005. The organization plans to host a straw bale building workshop in August.

The leaderonline is a division of The Davidson Leader, Davidson, Saskatchewan, Canada.