In the middle of the lot Saturday, children decorated a dome.
The core of the dome was simply constructed with repurposed pipes, discarded CDs and chicken wire. But as the children decorated the wire with fabric and plastic, it became art.
The decoration of the dome was part of the Fall Trash Festival on Saturday evening, hosted by The Repurpose Project, a local non-profit organization. More than 400 people attended the festival to help decorate the new dome and educate people about sustainability, said Sarah Goff, co-founder of The Repurpose Project.
"What we want to do with this event and with this event space is create an inspiration of how you can use the material that we have here to inspire other people to think, ‘Oh, this isn’t necessarily something that should be thrown away,’" Goff said. "It can have other purposes."
The Geo Dome Trash Sculpture was specifically created by children at the Master Builder Camp in Gainesville. The sculpture, which is outside the organization’s building on Northeast 23rd Avenue, was designed to teach a lesson about the environmental issues of plastic.
In addition to the dome decorating, activities included live music, a puppet show, face painting, a photo booth and the Physics Bus, a mobile science museum.
The event was fueled entirely by donations with no additional costs, according to Goff. Anything at the event was donated or refurbished trash. There was no entrance fee for the festival.
For Angela Melidosian, a 19-year-old UF sustainability studies sophomore, community is important to establish sustainability.
"The little things do matter like recycling, but for it to actually make a difference you have to get an entire community to do it," Melidosian said.
Finance major Peyton Hilford (left) looks at film negatives and slides with 20-year-old UF graphic design junior Maitane Romagosa inside the Repurpose Project during the Fall Trash Festival. “I love trash,” said Hilford, a 20-year-old UF junior.
Rebecca Butler sings with her band, GUTS, at the Fall Trash Festival on Oct. 10, 2015. The all-female Gainesville quartet is an indie soul, folk-rock type of band, said GUTS guitarist, drummer and bassist Samantha Jones (not pictured).
Student cartoonist at the Sequential Artist Workshop Javed Imthiaz (left) and co-founder of the Gainesville Iguana and Civic Media Center Joe Courter enjoy live music during the Fall Trash Festival on Oct. 10, 2015. "I'm a person that lives by repurposing things," said Courter. "The Repurpose Project is a celebration of creative reuse."
Tina Kirkpatrick (left), a nurse at North Florida Regional Medical Center, enjoys beer from First Magnitude Brewery and talks with attorney Heather Lee during the Fall Trash Festival. “I love this place,” Lee said. “I’m always looking to repurpose things.”
Ian Alzuru, 8, plays in The Repurpose Project’s latest art installation during the Fall Trash Festival on Oct. 10, 2015. The geodesic dome covered in plastic “trash” celebrates repurposing discarded items into artwork. Ian’s mother, artist Juanita Incoronato, said she goes to the Repurpose Project for toys while her son looks for toys.
David Findlay, 70, enjoys live music and popcorn with his dog Taz during the Fall Trash Festival. “Both my pound dog and I enjoy these type of community events,” Findlay said.
