Blending into the background isn’t something that Cornwall group are used to. However, the day before heading off to the Eden Project to hold a Save the Arctic stall (with a massive polar bear I hasten to add) I was informed that we should really strive to “not distract from the visitor experience”. So...remain on the sidelines but still promote our campaign and sign up Arctic Defenders? Challenge accepted!
It’s safe to say that when your weekend begins by being led through the bowels of the Eden project, it’s going to be a good one. Helen and I met the lovely Paul of Community Power Cornwall and Kabin behind the Link building on Saturday, and had fun scuttling around behind the scenes to set up our stalls in the Mediterranean biome.
Phil and Debbie were once again on hand to wear (and escort) the bear, but as we were still unsure of how proactive we could be, they couldn’t put on as much of a show as usual. We still got some attention with our crafts, quite a few kids trading their tales of Kaiser Chiefs excitement with ours of Arctic peril.
We closed the stall with 10 Arctic Defenders signed up. While this was a little disappointing, we hadn’t received any complaints about disrupting the visitor experience, so were ready to be a little more like our usual selves for Sunday.
We arrived early afternoon when the music started, and we saw a difference in interest before we’d even put on the bear – Sigur Ros fans were keen to talk about the Arctic! We had a few groups of Art students make creatures for our Arctic circle, and some visiting teachers take some leaflets as resources for their classroom. Result!
Later on Pete of CPC and Kabin took Russell – an old GP Cornwall face – to the Tropics biome as the bear. The kids loved it, running over for bear hugs, but by the end of the session the costume was understandably soaked in sweat! This didn’t stop passersby trying on the moist bear head for photos in the Med biome after it had been peeled off and left to dry. It worked well as a deal – try on the head, give us a signature!
As we were packing up, we noticed that we had collected 87 signatures that day...added onto the 10 from yesterday, we were just 3 off 100! Time for the hard sell, we had been so restrained for the rest of the weekend, a little Cornwall charm couldn’t hurt! In less than 5 mins we had got the 3 that we wanted, the final one from a lovely lady on tour with Sigur Ros!
We stayed for the gig after packing up, which was gorgeous. We worked well with the other two stalls, and hope to do more events together in the future.
As usual, massive thanks to everyone that helped out, especially Paul and to Nathan at the Eden Project.
See out Flickr for pics of a polar bear in a rainforest, and don’t forget to check our Facebook and Twitter for regular updates and upcoming events!
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