Sponsor Shout-Out: Hullabalooers Can Help Green Mountain Energy’s Numbers Climb

As I write this, Green Mountain Energy’s customers have helped avoid putting 43,370,625,513 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. Wait, make that 43,370,634,963…nope, 43,370,641,715. Well, you get the idea. As the ticker on their website shows, each person can make a huge impact. We wonder how many of those pounds came from people made the switch to a cleaner energy source at past Hullabaloos….

We’re SO happy that Green Mountain Energy is sponsoring Hullabaloo again this year! They’ve been with us since the beginning, and we’re thrilled that we can help out each other’s causes!

Green Mountain Energy began in Vermont in 1997, with the goal of changing the way power is made, and the mission of making green energy a mainstream choice. Did you know that you have the right to choose your supply of electricity? It’s true: you can ditch “traditional” electricity produced from fossil fuels and choose from cleaner, renewable sources like wind and solar by becoming part of the Green Mountain family. And you can even do so right at Hullabaloo in way less time that it’ll take to decide on which handmade gift to buy for your sister.

Green Mountain partners with local utility companies (yup, Central Hudson) who offer their customers renewable energy options, which makes the switch SUPER easy. You’re still billed through your utility company, but you get good karma from making a small change that, when combined with other like-minded people, adds up to the huge number tallying up on www.greenmountainenergy.com.

In addition to various electricity plans, they can help you with residential solar and carbon offset too. They also offer super cool specialty products like efficient light bulbs, water conservation solutions, and power-on-the-go goodies for the green-gadget lover on your list.

Please join us in thanking Green Mountain Energy for their support by keeping that ticker ticking—visit their table at Hullabaloo to be part of the growing number of eco-conscious people making the switch!

Sponsor Shout-Out: R&F Handmade Paints—Many Colors, Many Facets…Many Thanks!

As painter Henri Matisse said “Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.”

When a creative person sets out to turn a passion into a business, these characteristics are all the more important—and anyone familiar with the history of R&F Handmade Paints can easily see that founder Richard Frumess has got the stuff! The business originally started out as an artist’s means to ensure the availability of his favorite medium –but 27 years later, the business is so much more: what R&F itself describes as “a multi-faceted paint company that is material-focused and artist-driven.” You don’t get to be multi-faceted without all the traits Matisse describes!

R&F hand-makes their specialty products in their midtown Kingston factory: which means that each batch is mixed with great attention to the medium and pigment, resulting in vivid paints that retain their brightness and translucent colors that maintain their tones. Their products—84 colors of encaustic paints (wax-based paints with ancient origins; encaustics are kept molten on a heated palette, then applied to an absorbent surface and fused by reheating), 94 colors of their original Pigment Sticks® oil sticks (which allow for painting directly on a surface without the use of brushes, palettes, tubes, or solvents), and their Encausticbord™ surfaces—are praised and trusted by award-winning artists. But that’s just one of the business’s many aforementioned facets.

R&F also offers a rich array of demonstrations and workshops, taught by acclaimed artists and instructors. Whether you’re looking for an introduction to encaustics or are an old pro, take a look at their diverse course offering here: http://www.rfpaints.com/workshops/upcoming-workshops. They also have a gallery and host exhibitions with fine artists (http://www.rfpaints.com/exhibitions/r-f-gallery) and have an impressive permanent collection well worth visiting as well. Studio space is available to artists on an hourly basis, and R&F’s website, www.rfpaints.com, is a wealth of information for artists.

When we met with representatives of the Midtown Arts District committee after last year’s Hullabaloo, Richard was interested in and enthusiastic about our event, and having his support means so much to us!  We thank R&F for sponsoring Hullabaloo 2015, and for all you do for our community!

Sponsor Shout-Out: New York States of Mind—Connecting, Curating, and Celebrating

Billy Joel may have been in a New York state of mind, but as our sponsor New York States of Mind, recognizes (by adding the appropriate “s”), this can mean so many different things in different parts of this diverse state—each of them as inspiring as the next!

New York States of Mind (www.newyorkstatesofmind.com) is a digital magazine and marketplace that celebrates this great state’s people, places, products, and ideas. You can explore the site by features (brilliantly organized into “Celebrate,” “Curate,” “Decorate,” “Epicurate,” “Recreate,” and “Innovate”) or by region (perfect for planning a weekend road trip or discovering something new in your own backyard), and each article is a revelation of must- see/do/eat/try/meets that the tourism websites don’t tell you about.

Fresh and authentic, NYSOM is true to their goal of using the magazine and marketplace to “highlight and share the stories that fulfill [them], drive [them] to action, and constitute the commonalities and differences—the states of mind that collectively make us who we are and which, in turn make New York a unique conglomerate and arbiter of distinction.” Their content is driven by what compels them, not what gets clicks…and it shows!—Recent articles have covered everything from the most interesting places to study, to “Meet the Maker” features introducing artisanal food purveyors, from stories on food in our local schools, to entrepreneurs bringing innovative businesses to the Empire state, all in a celebratory style not typically found in today’s media. And it’s this quiet enthusiasm and sophisticated New York pride that ties these seemingly random topics together, and, as they describe “celebrates our parallel lives, draw connections in the unlikeliest places, and remove the guess work from your next adventure.”

Now, we know you want to hear about that Marketplace…New York States of Mind promote New York-based brands and believe that “the ideal product is as holistically ‘New York’ as possible: crafted by a New Yorker, made from grown or otherwise made-in-New York materials, and with a New York-focused point of inspiration.” Think Brooklyn-made dog carrier totes, Saratoga-chic handwoven neckties, and chocolate maple drink mixes for that weekend in the ADK’s, as just a few examples. And don’t forget the cool NYS-shaped table! It’s a great place for gifts for yourself and those on your holiday list. Shipping is included on all orders, and you get a 20% discount on your first order when you register!  Are you a vendor based in New York, and you’d like to be considered for the Marketplace? Email marketplace@NewYorkStatesofMind.com, and tell them Hullabaloo sent you! 

We’d like to thank NYSOM—a digital publication that shares so much of our sentiment for this region—for their support of this year’s Hullabaloo! Read the magazine at www.newyorkstatesofmind.com and find them on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube—don’t forget the “s”). After reading all those great articles, we’re in a New York state of mind ourselves…road trip, anyone?