Portland Home and Garden Show offers nothing but

Green Ghettos

I remember my first meeting with the Office of Sustainable Development (predecessor of Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability).  Jill Kolek put it simply when she said, "The Portland Home and Garden Show offers nothing for us except for a green ghetto; a small 'green street' section of booths tucked away in a corner and sitting in a sea of non-sustainable products."  Ouch! What an eye-opening statement.

She saw this as a marketing scheme rather than what I had intended which was a new products section.  For many years I was the Portland Home and Garden Show manager at my father's company, O'Loughlin Trade Shows.

Thus the birth of the Energy Trust Better Living Show -“ the largest sustainable lifestyle event in the Northwest.  My attempt to highlight green products was genuine, but it is true; either you walk the walk or you're just trying to use green to sell tickets.  

That is probably why those green streets never end up being a very large section.  The exhibitors get it and they do not want to support a show that isn't part of the solution.  Not that we do everything right, but my partner Stephanie and I made a decision early on to try our best.  And each year we get a little better, both in our company and our personal life. I am not condemning home and garden shows for adding green pavilions to their events, as long as they are not using this to say how sustainable they are. Most of my friends produce home and garden shows.  My point is we need to pay attention to how we perceive ourselves and how our customers look at us.  And this can be said for any business that is marketing green products.  Do you walk the walk or are you just trying to sell tickets? Post Script: The Energy Trust Better Living Show is free to attend - no tickets required.