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The Weekender: February 15 – 17

Elizabeth Yick

Thu Feb 14 2013

Dragon Boat Racing. Image credit: Mark Lehmkuhler via Flickr

THIS weekend, try your hand at learning to make fruit cider at the Sustainable Living Festival, race round the Tan for a good cause, or watch others do the hard work instead at a Chinese New Year dragon boat race. Elizabeth Yick has the details.

Go The Tan
Friday February 15, 1-5pm and Saturday February 16 (8am-3pm) – Botanical Gardens

Race to beat your personal best, improve your own fitness, or simply participate to support cure research for Friedreich Ataxia at the Go the Tan event. Sprint, jog, or walk one lap of the 3.87km Botanical Gardens Running Track and receive your official 2013 Tan time. The start and finish line is located at the Pillars of Wisdom, near the corner of Swan Street Bridge and Alexandra Avenue, South Yarra.

This year, Go The Tan will be supporting the Friedreich Ataxia Research Association, with all money raised going towards research for a cure. Friedreich Ataxia is a degenerative neurological disease, and currently diagnosed patients are faced with reduced life expectancy, with no treatment or cure. It is truly a race against time for sufferers, their family and friends. So, show your support by creating your own Everyday Hero account and help fundraise for a meaningful cause! For more information, visit the event site here, or learn more about Friedreich Ataxia.

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Look. Stop. Swap.
Daily until February 24, Sustainable Living Festival Hub, 225 Bourke Street, Melbourne

As part of the Sustainable Living Festival, the City of Melbourne together with Three Thousand have joint forces with many retailers, cafés, and social enterprises to present Look. Stop. Swap. The idea is for Melburnians to share their thoughts and ideas on creating a more sustainable lifestyle.

Look.Stop.Swap is based upon a network of information sharing and product exchanges. Head to the Boatbuilder’s Yard and take a workshop on how to turn old beer bottles into drinking glasses; or bring some fruit or eggs into Alice Niven’s Café in exchange for freshly baked goodies made with donations from the previous day. To get in on this exciting event, pick up a Look.Stop.Swap map from the Sustainable Living Festival Hub on Bourke St with information on participating businesses, or visit the Three Thousand event site.

Sustainable Living Festival

The Green Market
Friday February 15 – Sunday February 17, Federation Square and Birrarung Marr, Melbourne

This weekend is the Big Weekend at the Sustainable Living Festival, and in the spirit of things, Federation Square and the adjoining Birrarung Marr will be transformed into a Green Market – a market focused on sustainable home solutions, garden gear, fair trade clothing, and local organic food and produces. Not only will there be more than 100 stalls, there will also be a range of interactive workshops, talks from experts, live demonstrations, as well as artwork, exhibits, and a variety of films and performances. One of the more interesting exhibits is a single occupancy unit named Freddie, which was constructed with a budget of only $30,000 and is roughly the size of a ship container, but includes solar hot water, grey water recycling, and a composting toilet. For the less ambitious, there are workshops about sustainability from growing edible weeds to making your own fruit cider. Interested yet? Well, head on down to Federation Square and Birrarung Marr this weekend for ideas on how to make your own life more planet-friendly! See the full program for details on these exciting events and more.

Chinese New Year Dragon Boat Regatta
Sunday February 17, from 9am, World Trade Centre Wharf (18-38 Siddeley St), Docklands

To usher in the new lunar year, Dragon Boat Victoria will once again be hosting the Chinese New Year regatta this Sunday at the World Trade Centre Wharf in Docklands. It promises to be an exhilarating day with many colourful 2.5 tonne ‘dragons’ sprinting through the waters. There will also be other forms of entertainment throughout the day, including the dotting of the eyes of the dragons (which is a ceremony that “opens the eyes and awakes the dragons” for racing) and traditional lion dancing. This is a free event, for more information visit the Victoria Dragon Boat Association website.

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