Climate-Fun-Fair

Fun-fairs have been around for ages, and ever since their first edition, fun-fairs have attracted crowds of all ages.

A few years ago the idea emerged to organize a climate-fun-fair. Fun fairs are well visited in our area, so this would be a great opportunity to send the climate message even further. We ran into some obstacles as the fairground operators didn’t want to make huge changes to their equipment, and the city council wasn’t too happy about it either, and both parties doubted whether it would attract any people.

With some perseverance, negotiating and relentless lobbying, we did, in the end, get our climate-fun-fair in Breda, the Netherlands. Some rides were modified, we ensured the fun-fair was running on solar and wind power, and even a new ride was designed, the Vertical Bike, replacing the High Striker, but with the same aim, pedal as hard as you can to reach a 12 meter height.

A goal of this fun-fair is to keep it fun, so people would enjoy the fun fair while at the same time be made aware of climate change and its solutions. Many of the traditional rides stayed, like a merry-go-round, bumper cars, and slot machines. The slot machine did not give out useless prizes; instead, things like LED lightbulbs, young fruit trees, and even a full solar panel installation could be won.

The VR experience showcased a beaver teaching children about the ins-and-outs of climate change. There was an information booth for in-depth climate change information, and a small theater presented plays about climate change and environmental actions. The food stands offered snacks other than the usual sugary and fatty snacks available at a fun-fair, and a variety of new snacks including vegetarian and vegan snacks, along with leaflets on how to get / make these snacks at home.

The overall goal of the fun-fair was to introduce people to small steps an individual can make to improve their choices for climate and the environment. For the more interested individuals there was information on the systemic change we need, and how to push for systemic change. 

Overall we believe the climate-fun-fair was successful. Around 50.000 people visited, many recipes were taken at the food stands, and the information booth was well visited with a lot of meaningful questions. Children came back repeatedly for the VR experience and recommended it to their friends.