Thrift shopping at Greendrinks

Because I had another event to attend, I only managed to be there for the first 20 minutes of last night's Greendrinks at SPACE Gallery. Here's a shot I took on my way out the door, and as you can see the place was already packed. Later on, Adam and I ran into a couple regular Greendrinkers who said they couldn't get in because the venue was over capacity. So I guess it's safe to say the monthly event was another success.

For the first time in its short history, Greendrinks charged attendees $1 per beer. These brews came from the fine folks at Peak Organic and Sebago. For an extra $6, Greendrinkers could pick up one of the limited edition SPACE Gallery pint glasses you can see on the table.

The other cool feature of last night's party was the specially curated boutique of clothing and accessories put together by Goodwill. Here Katie Gallagher checks out the handbag selection.

Even though we were only there for such a short time, we still ran into lots of fun local people, including Charlie Rowe and Alison LePage.

Here's Jesse Baines, one of the wonderful people who coordinates these networking events. She and the other Greendrinks organizers have a new offering for those of us looking to connect with other green-minded people. It's called Greendrinks Lunches, and it's an online tool that sets up group lunch dates for the Friday after Greendrinks. The next one is this Friday, May 15. So hop on and sign up, and maybe we'll get to have lunch together.

Artsy Greendrinks fills MECA

Marking its one year anniversary, Portland Greendrinks pulled off another rocking party last night at the Maine College of Art. There were so many people jamming the hallways, I can't tell you for sure how many showed up, but it clearly numbered in the hundreds. The awesome art school in downtown Portland offered up tours of its former department store building and T-shirts for screenprinting.

One of the really cool things about the party was the chance to check out the excellent student art that literally covers every available wall. Another cool thing about MECA is that its extensive art library on the second floor is open to the public.

As part of Greendrinks ongoing effort to get attendees to bring reusable drinking vessels that can be filled with the amber deliciousness from Peak Organic and Sebago Brewing, the Dobbyn Foundation sold mugs handcrafted by MECA students for the very affordable price of $5. All the money raised from the sales will be used to pay for school tuition for students in Uganda.

Aside from the mugs, my pick for the most original cup goes to Eli Cayer (of Maine Mead Works fame) and his chalice. Of course, I also need to give a shout out to the photogenic Geoffrey Starrett and his impeccable taste, as demonstrated by the Switch/MaineToday.com pint glass he was sipping from. Too bad my photography skills were no match for his good looks.

Hoppin' party at February's Greendrinks

Hundreds of people turned out for last night's Greendrinks social networking event at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. This was one of the best gatherings yet, with a real cocktail party feel due to all the different spots where people could mingle among the building supplies.

Portland Greendrinks founder Elliott May thanked everyone for coming and introduced the evening's host, Steve Bolton.

Steve is the executive director of Greater Portland Habitat for Humanity, which runs the ReStore. He dispelled some common myths about Habitat (it's not a government program, it wasn't started by President Jimmy Carter and it doesn't give away homes for free) and explained how the ReStore sells donated building supplies at a big discount to support Habitat's home building program.

Along with lovely apps, there were lots of local drinks to sample. Here Nick Higgins and Eli Cayer of Maine Mead Works handed out shot glass sized samples of their very tasty dry and semi sweet HoneyMaker mead.

The guys from Sebago Brewing Company were pouring up Slick Nick Winter Ale and Boathouse Brown Ale.

Anyone who made it all the way into the back room had the opportunity to try the very smooth and tasty Peak Organic Pomegranate Wheat Ale with Acai. The all organic brewery has been working on the recipe since at least last spring, and while it's not in stores yet, Geoff Masland tells me it will be soon.

Here are a few of the Greendrinkers who agreed to smile for the camera:

Heather Chandler, who publishes the popular SunriseGuide, and Jennie Vieira, who just opened her own massage business for women called Blossom Massage.

Geoffrey Starrett and Katie Gallagher, who both managed to look good even though we were all sweltering under a heat lamp.

And Jon Sundberg, who deserves a prize for the most humorous mug. The goal is to have more people emulate Jon and bring their own reusable mug to cut down on waste.

Should you want to be there for the next Greendrinks, mark you calendar for March 10. I'm not sure where the next party will be, but you can find out by checking the website or becoming a fan of the group on Facebook.

Sharing eco-sins at Greendrinks

Last night's Greendrinks hosted by WCYY and the Maine Rock Gym attracted another stellar crowd. We even had some political star power in the form of Portland's newest (and obviously coolest) State Senator Justin Alfond (who's standing in the center of this photo wearing the maroon sweater). Once again Peak Organic supplied us tree-hugging networkers with suds. But the local organic brewery wasn't alone. The folks from Sebago Brewing also showed up to hand out their tasty, locally-brewed product.

We all got to check out the rock gym and see a few people give it a try. Portland-based photographer Sam Cousins (who I'm sure will have much better photos posted on his Flickr site soon) told me he saw a woman attempting to scale the wall with two beers in one hand. Now that's talent!

The folks at WCYY were handing around this whiteboard and asking us to reveal our eco-sins. Here's Adam admitting to driving a less than green vehicle. Word has it that I fessed up to cranking the heat to 80 every once and a while, but since I don't have any photographic evidence of such a confession I plan to plead the 5th if questioned. (Who me? I absolutely love a freezing bathroom in the morning.) I can only hope at next month's event we get asked about our green good deeds, that way none of us is forced to run damage control in the morning.

Greendrinks packs the house

Last night earth-loving Portlanders turned out in droves for the monthly Greendrinks networking party. Switch/MaineToday.com co-hosted the get-together with the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, which provided the top-notch venue. Salt moved this summer from the Old Port to the Arts District and its new home is super-chic and modern. This was the first-ever public event held at the new Salt, and we certainly tested the capacity of the gallery and screening room.

I was super psyched about the art exhibition we curated specifically for Greendrinks. We asked six local artists to carve, paint and/or adorn pumpkins for the show. The resulting works came from Clint Fulkerson, David A. Marshall, Michael Rich, Christina St. Cyr, Willa Wirth and Jeff Woodbury. Here Tim Greenway is photographing each of the works, which means we'll have much better photos along with info about the artists in the Oct. 30 edition of Switch magazine.

Another great addition to this month's Greendrinks was the awesome donation of food from Green Elephant. This all-vegetarian, eco-friendly restaurant on Congress Street is always packed, and it was easy to see why with the way people quickly gobbled up the selection of fresh rolls, spring rolls, crispy wontons and soy nuggets that the eatery so generously donated. The offerings also included donated coffee from Coffee By Design, donated apples from Randall's Orchard and donated cider from Thompson's Orchard.

Of course the always popular Geoff Masland of Peak Organic was swamped with Greendrinkers eager to try the latest brew: Espresso Amber Ale. You may have seen my post about this new beer the other day, and now that I've tried it I must say I'm a huge fan. It had a hearty feel - perfect for a winter brew - and a wonderful coffee flavor. (Plus a little kick of caffeine!) Geoff says they plan to dial back the coffee by about 20% in the recipe before they bottle it. Because there were so many thirsty people there, we managed to kick two kegs in about an hour and a half. Now that's what I call a sign of a hot party!

Tuesday's hot party: Greendrinks

The monthly Greendrinks gathering is always a happening time, but this month's party taking place tomorrow night is sure to be one of the best yet. Why's that? Well, for starters there's the free beer from Peak Organic, the free organic wine from Rosemont Bakery and the free food from Green Elephant. Then there's the coolness factor of being one of the first people to check out the new home of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Plus, who wouldn't want to spend the evening with the awesome folks from Switch/MaineToday.com, who are co-hosting the event? (Not that I'm biased or anything.) Finally, there's the fact that the first 200 people through the door will leave with a free pint glass.

As you can clearly see with all that free stuff and a great group of eco-minded business people, there's really no good excuse not to be there.

On the eco island

Last night was the monthly Greendrinks gathering. In the past, we Greendrinkers have hob-nobbed it up at a business on the peninsula. But last night we went much further afield. Actually, I'm not even sure we were still in Portland.

All 110 of us hopped a charted boat and cruised out to Cow Island, home of Rippleffect. The night's festivities were co-sponsored by the organizers of the Kindle Bioneers conference coming to USM Portland in October. (The connection comes from Kindle organizer Ted Regan, who is one of the original founders of Rippleffect.)

The first order of business was to divide us up into five groups for a tour around the island. This turned out to be more difficult than you'd think. I took this shot right after the group leaders (in the center) proposed that we count off by five to split into groups. Boy, was that an unpopular suggestion! The reaction may have seemed a little odd, considering the fact that Greendrinks is a social networking group, but I think it had more to do with us urbanites finding ourselves on a very rustic island and not wanting to abandon the time honored code of the buddy system. (Motto: No friend left behind.)

Our group had the good fortune of being led by singer/songwriter Emilia Dahlin, who happens to be Rippleffect's Duchess of Discovery for Fort Lyon. (Note to self: I really need to get a better title!) Here she is showing off the new composting toilets.

And here are the older composting toilets. I admit I didn't try them out, but I heard that they were quite nice. The newer toilets have a solar array that powers a fan to ward off any smells.

Located next to Great Diamond Island and Long Island, the 26 acre Cow Island is the home of Fort Lyons, which was built in 1907. The hub of the island is located here, where the former officer barracks are being fixed up for re-use. Isn't it amazing what a little lime green paint, a string of Tibetan prayer flags and some potted plants can do for an abandoned building? This section of the island also features a brand new commercial kitchen. Other green highlights here include:

A rainwater collection system

A solar panel to power the kitchen and a few lights

And an artsy cobb oven

Rippleffect has plans for many of the old fort structures that are hidden across the island under the fast-growing bittersweet. Here's a little bunker which will someday be the Cow Island library. This inspired my friends Kate and Shannon to strike a proper bibliophile pose.

Our tour ended at an old watch tower with a stellar view. This shot shows Great Diamond Island and Peaks Island, in the distance.

After hiking across the island, we were ready for some Peak Organic beer, organic wine from Rosemont Market & Bakery and food donated by Flatbread, Amato's and Norm's.

Instead of our typical citified networking, we got to mingle under the wide open skies.

All too soon it was time to board the boat and head back to Portland. As you may be able to tell from my crazy grin, I've had a few glasses of wine at this point. It probably didn't help that the boat's liquor license rules forced me and a bunch of other people to chug our drinks dockside (good thing I took that course in college). Because everything was organic, I didn't wake up with a hangover this morning. Thanks Greendrinks for an organic good time!

Mimes & margaritas

So it's no secret that I really wanted to try out the bike-powered margarita mixer at last night's Greendrinks. (For the exercise, of course.) But, sometimes life doesn't work out as planned.

As you can see, the bike was there at the new offices of ad agency SOAP, but it was experiencing technical difficulties. (Thank god such problems don't plague my cocktail shaker!) I did manage to sample one of the margaritas, despite the malfunctions, which helped curb my disappointment.

Speaking of SOAP, its new offices on Fore Street are the bomb! The space is the old home of Planet Dog and it features a fun mix of exposed brick and timbers, modern furnishings and punchy colors. It's a perfect environment for brainstorming creative marketing strategies for their green & socially minded clients.

The social networking event pulled in a wall-to-wall crowd. We drained the keg and drank all the beers generously provided by Peak Organic.

And I have to say that any party where a mime serves fresh cut vegetables rates highly in my book.

Bike for your margaritas

Some people go to Greendrinks to meet other green business types. I plan to go to tomorrow's get-together so I can use a bicycle to mix a margarita.

We've all got to have priorities, right?

Read Business & pleasure in The Maine Switch mag.