Goodwill and Northern Spark, Partners in Sustainability

If you’ve dabbled in the Twin Cities art scene, you know Northern Spark. The all-night festival returns this weekend for its seventh year, and it’s bigger than ever. Festival-goers can experience their pick of 70 participatory art projects organized around neighborhoods on the Green Line. (Train rides are free all night — visit northernspark.org to download a pass.)

In 2017, Northern Spark’s theme is climate change and how people can take action to make a positive difference for our planet. Northern Spark walks their talk by encouraging green practices with event partners, participants, staff and volunteers. That’s why organizers seized the spirit of reuse when it came to keeping festival-goers hydrated. (And they will need hydration — it looks like it’s going to be a scorcher.) Instead of buying bottled water from food vendors, attendees are encouraged to top off their reusable water bottles at Tap Mpls and Anthropocene Water Stations throughout the festival.

And if you forgot your bottle at home? That’s where Goodwill comes in. We joined Northern Spark this year as a sustainability sponsor, donating more than 1,200 reusable water bottles to the event. The bottles have been sanitized and stickered by Northern Spark organizers and will be available to buy from festival info tents all along the Green Line. We’re thrilled to add Northern Spark to our list of community collaborations — from the food shelves to adult detention centers — who give twice-donated goods a new life.