5th Annual Organic Planet Festival Announces 2009 Date

EUREKA, CA – The 2009 Organic Planet Festival will return to Humboldt County on Sunday, August 30th, offering a fun-filled and informative extravaganza featuring top-flight music, organic food and beverages, inspiring talks and workshops, the World's Largest Organic Salad, an eco-hip fashion show, a non-toxic kids' village with petting zoo and over 50 natural product exhibitors!

The daylong event is hosted by Eureka-based Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs) and is Humboldt County's largest 'green' festival, as well as northern California's only organic and toxic-free gathering. The event will provide a family-friendly way to share information about living healthier lives, chiefly by raising awareness about how to "get more organic" -- in food, jobs, homes and leisure -- as society advances in the 21st century.

The Festival kicks off Organic Harvest Month in September, which highlights the growing popularity of organic foods. U.S. sales of organic foods have grown more than 20 percent annually for the last seven years, with overall sales around $17 billion, according to the Organic Consumers Association, and despite the downturn in the economy, organic sales are still strong overall.

When it comes to ‘going organic,’ food is not the only thing to consider, however.

“The Festival is about making non-toxic and natural normal for all people,” said Patty Clary, CATs’ Director. “Organic and non-toxic products run the gamut from babies’ diapers to construction materials.”

Along with checking out the wares of natural and organic exhibitors, visitors to the 2009 celebration on the Waterfront in historic Eureka can listen to musicians and speakers with positive, environmentally focused messages. The speaker, workshop, and entertainment lineup will be announced this Spring, and plans are underway to make this the biggest and best Organic Planet Festival yet, in honor of the 5th anniversary of the organic celebration.

The Fifth Annual Organic Planet Festival will take place in Halvorsen Park at the bayside end of "L" Street in Eureka, CA from 10:30 am to 7:30 pm on Sunday, August 30.

Festival admission is $12 in advance, $15 at the gate, and kids 12 and under enter for $3 (babies in arms are free). There will be a free raffle for door prizes. The Organic Planet Festival is a program of Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs) and all funds raised go directly back into supporting the growth and viability of the educational event itself, as well as helping to subsidize the "family-friendly" ticket price. The Organic Planet Festival is now accepting exhibitor and volunteer applications.

For more information, call 707-445-5100, email info@organicplanetfestival.org or visit http://www.organicplanetfestival.org.