Sustainability Festival

Our annual event to learn, play and be inspired!
Interaction and action are the most effective ways for us to share the skills and knowledge we offer at the South Canterbury Eco Centre. Every year we host a variety of workshops, events and activities for all ages and interests over two days in November. Our motivated community facilitators will inspire you along with the help of guest speakers.

Saturday 9 - Sunday 10 of November 2024

2024 Sustainability Festival – mark your calendars!

We are excited to offer you some new and exciting workshops, along with the Quiz night and bringing back the Sunday Sustainability Fair and Junk to Funk competition.  

Festival structure:

Saturday Workshops and Quiz Night

Sunday Fair with Junk to Funk competition

Join us as a stallholder

Stallholders and Junk to Funk entries are welcome, we provide clear information to all stallholders, provide a great venue and awesome entertainment.

  • Vision – Educate and inspire our community to be more sustainable
  • Entertainment – Junk to Funk competition, music, and entertainment stage
  • Community – Bringing like-minded people together during the Sustainability Festival
  • Marketing – Newspaper, radio, social media, and newsletters

More information about being a Stallholder can be found here

Enter the Junk to Funk competition here

Enter a Quiz team for Saturday night here

Book one or more of our great line up of Saturday workshops below. 

Events and workshops

November 2024

Bike maintenance - Sustainability Festival workshop

Bike maintenance - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
9:30 am - 10:30 am
$5.00
Love to ride but not sure what to do if something goes wrong with your bike? Want to be more independent when out riding? Session is hosted by South Canterbury Mountain Bike Club, for all ages.
Sustainable buildings - Sustainability Festival workshop

Sustainable buildings - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
9:30 am - 10:30 am
$10.00
Discover innovative strategies to create eco-friendly structures in John’s presentation about low carbon, sustainable building materials and passive solar design. (Rushtonarchitects.co.nz )
Energy Futures - Sustainability Festival workshop

Energy Futures - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
10:45 am - 11:45 am
$10.00
Solar electric power generation, on roofs and in paddocks, supported by affordable storage batteries. Bio-methane from ‘digestors’ of farm and parkland wastes, which is being used in the UK to power tractors. Hear how these technologies are developing and their role in electrifying NZ.
Propagating Native Plants - Sustainability Festival workshop

Propagating Native Plants - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
10:45 am - 11:45 am
$10.00
Learn how to collect seeds and cuttings from Aotearoa native plants and to grow them. Dividing up, growing cuttings from indigenous ‘taonga’ unique to these islands.
Kids’ Spring Craft - Sustainability Festival workshop

Kids’ Spring Craft - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
$5.00
Get creative making a game to take home. Upcycle your own cup & ball catching game. Fly a butterfly or a bee into a flower. Use your imagination to make the game colourful and unique to you.
Regenerative farming & gardening. - Sustainability Festival workshop

Regenerative farming & gardening. - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
$20.00
How to avoid herbicides and pesticides, to get healthy garden and horticultural crops. Learn about energy and nutrient cycles in the soil, from our visiting Lincoln-based expert.
Guided Riverside and Wetlands Walk - Sustainability Festival workshop

Guided Riverside and Wetlands Walk - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
$5.00
In a small guided group, explore nearby Saltwater Creek plant and bird life, using the I-Naturalist smartphone app (and others) to help with plant, insect and bird identification.
Nature Ninja - Sustainability Festival workshop

Nature Ninja - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
$5.00
Are you keen to save our feathered friends? If you're between 7 and 12 years old, join us on a quest to protect our birds and animal friends!
Plan to place the native plants - Sustainability Festival workshop

Plan to place the native plants - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
$20.00
Learn to draw a garden planting plan to scale, anticipating grown sizes. Choose right types of natives to suit your place (the area required, soil, shade, water, etc). You will individually work with a supplied aerial image of your location, so do provide your house address when booking!
‘Electric Vehicles 101’ - Sustainability Festival workshop

‘Electric Vehicles 101’ - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
2:45 pm - 3:45 pm
$10.00
Guide to why & how EV’s work, and what you need to know when switching to one. Learn about the lingo, the myths, the ad-vantages, financial & eco-benefits.
Wonderful Wool Felting - Sustainability Festival workshop

Wonderful Wool Felting - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
2:45 pm - 3:45 pm
$10.00
Have fun learning the wet felting process to create a colourful piece, to take home after-wards. See a variety of techniques and learn where to source more wool.
Lower-carbon living - Sustainability Festival workshop

Lower-carbon living - Sustainability Festival workshop

November 9, 2024    
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
$10.00
A session on changing lifestyles, to live more lightly on the planet and confidently under-stand what actions make a real difference to your household ‘carbon footprint’: indoors, gardening, travelling, shopping, etc.
Quiz Night - Sustainability Festival

Quiz Night - Sustainability Festival

November 9, 2024    
6:30 pm - 10:00 pm
$20.00
Make a team with your friends or family to join us for a fun Quiz night as part of the Sustainability Festival. BYO drinks and shared [...]
Junk to Funk competition

Junk to Funk competition

November 10, 2024    
12:15 am - 1:00 am
The Junk to Funk competition is coming back for 2024 at the Sustainability Festival!! More information to come.... in the mean time sign up to our newsletter so you don't miss out on getting an entry in!
Sustainability Fair

Sustainability Fair

November 10, 2024    
9:30 am - 2:30 pm
We are looking for people interested in hosting a sustainability themed stall and for volunteers to join the committee to help with the Sustainability Festival weekend.