Photo: Visit NorwayNorway's award-winning Øya festival is showing how things can be done differently. -We are committed to become one of the most environmentally responsible festivals in Europe, and give our audience the experience of a truly eco-friendly festival, says the organizers who are thinking “green” in every parts of the event.
The energy comes from renewable sources, food is organic, the organization
“Natur og Ungdom” helps to recycle most of the trash and rest-food goes to composting. All of the printed promotional material for the festival is in recycled paper - and the buses, bringing people to and from the concert area, are partly powered by sewage! These are just some of the green measures which characterize the Øya-festival.
And the organizers are constantly working with new ways of making the festival greener and greener every year.
Food street
Walking through Øya’s “food street” you can find plenty of various eateries. All of them offering ecological dishes at reasonable prices. The festival is cooperating with Oikos (National Association for Organic Food) and their vision is that all food prepared on the festival should be short-travelled and made from organic produce.
You find vegetables from Vestfold county, meat from Oslo- area and chicken and eggs from Telemark county, all close to the Oslo region. – Only the natural, pesticide-free produce is good enough for our festivals visitors, the organizers say.
One of this year’s new arrivals at the Øya food concept is the pop-up restaurant “The No. 1 Seafood Experience” that will serve Norwegian seafood to about 60,000 music fans. The restaurant will be a showcase for short-travelled seafood, as it also was during the World Ski Championships that took place in Oslo earlier this year.
Fun for everyone
Many kids are joining their parents at the festival. Photo: Mini øyaIn addition to listening to music and enjoying the food concept, several other activities are taking place during the festival days, both inside and outside the concert arena. Fun for kids, clubs around town offering late-night concerts, cinemas showing selected movies and humanitarian organizations giving out information from stands inside the concert arena.
Meaning, the Øya Festival does not only entertain your ears!
This year’s line up:
Kanye West, Pulp, Guided by Voices, Fleet Foxes, James Blake, Janelle Monáe, Aphex Twin, Jamie xx, Lykke Li, Okkervil River, Destroyer, the Antlers, Glasser, Low, Q-Tip, Hercules and Love Affair, Fang Island, WU LYF, Warpaint, Explosions in the Sky, Matthew Dear, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, OFF!, How to Dress Well, Twin Shadow
The tickets to the festival are sold out. But every morning a few tickets will be sold at the gates. Be there early!
More information about the festival is to be found here.