Gorgeous weather, a good team effort in publicizing and staffing, and interesting green projects and exhibits helped create a well-attended and successful inaugural Green Monona Tour on Sunday, June 14.

The free, four-hour event was organized by the City of Monona Sustainability Committee to showcase a variety of ways Mononans conserve resources, save money, and care for the natural environment and their community. Fifteen sites – nine homes, four businesses, a church, and a city building – were presented. The hope was that seeing the green steps up close and speaking with those who have taken them would make it easier for tour-goers to implement green practices.

Committee Chair Doug Wood was at Ahuska Park, guiding people to the Exhibitor Site where they could learn from and visit with representatives of Focus on Energy, The Natural Step Monona, the Madison Area Permaculture Guild, and Habitat ReStore. They could also see the Monona Police Department’s Honda Element and Patrol Bicycle—both of which save the city on fuel costs. A display prepared by the Public Works Department about the Lake Edge Sedimentation Basin explained how the facility, which turns drivers’ heads daily on Monona Drive, improves stormwater quality. MG&E literature was available, also.

Nichole North Hester, who generated the idea for the tour, and Pat Howell assisted at the Exhibitor Site, too. Said Howell, “We had a steady stream of people… There seems to be a lot of interest in finding ideas to be more green.”

Committee members also had homes on the tour. Peter McKeever and his wife, Marena Kehl, displayed their porous paver driveway.

Suzanne Wade and her husband, Larry, showed their many water-saving features and also hosted an exhibit from Sustain Dane. Wade reported “lots of interest in the in-line pump (for their rain barrel watering system), the tank-less water heater, and dual flush toilet.”

Heather Gates’ home was visited by over forty people, many of whom were interested in seeing her crushed granite driveway and rain garden.

Bob Miller, former chair of the committee and now a citizen member, acted as tour guide for those that took the Wal-Mart-sponsored bus. The bus stopped at three notable sites: Wal-Mart, for a behind-the-scenes look at its sustainability measures; the yurt that houses 4Pillars4Health EcoSpace and its composting toilet; and the Paprocki residence to see parts of a home energy audit – a blower door test and infrared camera – in action.

While some tour-goers took the bus or drove cars, many tour-goers implemented their own green transportation – riding their bikes.

Committee member Wade helped create site signage; George Kinsler posted signs at area businesses; Bert Slinde collected guides from city buildings the night before the tour so they could be shared with tour-goers on Sunday. Local restaurants, Pizza Oven and Papa Murphy’s, helped by putting quarter-page flyers about the tour on their pizza delivery boxes the week before the event.

The Green Monona Tour included exhibitors at sites on the tour, as well as at the Ahuska Exhibitor Site. Brighter Concepts, Full Spectrum Solar, and MPowering were represented at the Speight/Carr residence, the DeVore residence, and the Meyer residence, respectively.

WKOW (http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10544033), WISC (http://www.channel3000.com/news/19752268/detail.html), and WMTV covered the event. Also, the Herald-Independent printed the site list and map — part of the official Site/Exhibitor Guide – augmenting the number of citizens who had the most pertinent information about the tour.

The Green Monona Tour will prove truly successful if visitors to the sites are inspired enough to take green steps of their own and lessen their impact on the earth. According to Wade, the most rewarding part of having taken green measures is “knowing that when we sit and watch a sunset over Lake Monona, we have contributed in a small way to its health and the health of the community.”