In early 2006 a group of people sitting in a row home in South Philly were trying to figure out how to help the people of Philadelphia start to make their lives a little bit greener. They were looking for a way to make the environment something everyone in Philadelphia could connect to no matter what their opinions of the environment. “We need to meet people where they are” was the idea the Urban Green Partnership kept coming back to as it searched for ways to educate as many people as possible about the environmental issues facing the city and the Delaware valley. In march of 06 the idea of hosting a green street party was hatched and 6 months later the South Street Green Festival was held. Over 6500 and 40 vendors showed up just to see what the crazy bunch of south Philly folks were up to.

Michael Nutter, Babette Josephs, Alen Butkovits, and Maurice Sampson were just a few of the speakers that turned out in the first year to show their support for the environment and their passion for making Philadelphia the next great city. Working with Recycle Now the festival helped collect over 2000 signatures in support of increasing the city wide incentivized recycling program. The 1 day long festival went so well that the Urban Green Partnership decided to host a second festival in 2007.

What a jump, in 2007 the festival grew to 4 blocks, 130 vendors and was attended by over 14,000 people. Again the Urban Green Partnership teamed up with another local organization, the Delaware Valley Green Building Council to highlight the need for more green building and how to help Philly move in a greener direction. The festival was also able to work with the city and become part of Green Plan Philadelphia.

The 2008 festival theme and date have already been selected and the Urban Green Partnership is hard at work growing the festival and its message. But at the end of the day getting greener is everyone’s job and the Urban Green Partnership is here to help the city and its residents in any way it can.

See everyone in 2008