The Vans Warped Tour has become one of the most eco-friendly tour festivals, especially with the launch of the Vans Eco-Initiative. One of the many parts of the Eco-Initiative is a volunteer day done with the Warped tour bands and crew members. This year, that volunteer day took place on July 25th in Baltimore City, Maryland, through a volunteer opportunity being held by the organization Blue Water Baltimore. At the Pavement to Prairies party, volunteers helped to turn a city school’s parking lot into a garden. Ashley Traut, the senior project manager for storm water and community outreach at Blue Water Baltimore, gave me some more information on the “party.”
Could you tell me a little bit more about the event? How did you become linked to the Vans Warped Tour?
This work is being funded by a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust. We are working with six city schools to remove pavement and install rain gardens and conservation landscaping in an effort to reduce stormwater and increase local outdoor education opportunities for city students. The Vans Warped Tour contacted one of our staff, Eliza Steinmeier, who heads our Waterkeeper division, looking for volunteer opportunities for their Eco Service Day. The more traditional stream clean up and weed pull was discussed, but I was feeling adventurous and floated the idea of the depave effort.
What made you pick this spot for the event?
There are numerous city schools with un-needed asphalt and concrete, which is often in disrepair and unsightly. We chose to work with the current six schools based on a number of factors including school and community interest, estimated stormwater reduction, visibility, and location within our watersheds. The project at ACCE is much larger than any of the other projects and a tremendously exciting opportunity to really highlight the benefits of such work.
How has being linked with the Vans Warped Tour affected the event? Do you feel as though you’ve received more volunteers through this connection?
The Warped Tour connection has been phenomenal. Kate Truscott and Allison Skiff have been incredible helping to organize the logistics for the day and assist us with PR, networking, and in-kind support. The Warped Tour buzz has absolutely driven volunteers to this event.