Still wondering how you can get around the city without relying on a car, how it's possible to grow fruits and veggies in a city backyard or how you can tell what is and isn't recyclable?

Learn, interact and find these answers at the fifth annual Sustainable Ballard Festival this weekend (Sept. 27 and 28).

Local non-profit Sustainable Ballard is encouraging festival participants to come by foot, wheels, on water or by land to the Ballard Commons Park and Ballard Public Library at Northwest 57th Street and 22nd Avenue Northwest to start going green and reducing their carbon footprint on the environment.

"It's going to be kind of a county fair atmosphere," Jenny Heins Festival Coordinator and Sustainable Ballard President said.

The two festival days will be filled with games, animals, rides, contests, workshops, art, music and theater.

Inspiring residents and fellow neighboring communities, Sustainable Ballard is also teaching and sending out the message that "the choices we make daily can affect global climate change and oil dependency."

The festival is split up into different sections of interests and information; Transportation Row, Green Your Home, Green Kids Corner, Zero Waste Zone, Learning Stations, All About Ballard, Creativity Row, Eat Local Now, Urban Farm Zone, Buy Local and Skateboarding Demos.

Kids will be kept entertained and educated with crafts and shows, such as Sock Puppet Theater hosted by CoolMoms. They'll be able to both make and perform with their sock puppets on a tree stump stage made of recycled material.

How will anyone resist playing in the trash when they create it into works of art? Hosted by Re Store Used Building Materials, the Re-cycled Art Station will allow everyone to turn what used to be garbage into pieces of fine art.

"On Transportation Row the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association will offer rides on electric vehicles and there will also be rides on Segways," said Heins.

Other activities will include learning how to make your own laundry soap, sewing your own "fun bag" out of recycled materials and even learning how to skateboard in the Ballard Commons Skatebowl.

Two main stages will also host entertainment to keep your ears and eyes open and your feet tapping. The KBCS 91.3 FM Arts stage will feature klezmer, bluegrass, improv, dance, a sustainable fashion show and a compost beauty contest.

The Ballard Business Speaker Stage will host the likes of Bob Baines of the Seattle Parks Department, Evan Sugden a biologist and bee expert, Bill Thorness author of "Biking Puget Sound; 50 Rides from Olympia to the San Juans" and more who will share their expertise and sustainable tips.

But don't to come to the festival empty-handed.

Sustainable Ballard would like to give attendants a heads up to bring jars of compost, large fabric scraps, bizarre vegetable and garden photos, holey socks, utility bills, spare T-shirts or bags and a camera so they are prepared to fully participate in the various games, activities, tours, contests and workshops.

The first 200 people on each day will receive a 2009 Chinook Book courtesy of BuiltGreen. So grab that skateboard, hop on those bikes, and slip on those tennis shoes and head over to the fifth annual Sustainable Ballard Festival.

To help volunteer or for more information on the festival visit http://sustainableballard.org/wiki/index.php?title=Festival:Home or pick up a free festival guide at the Ballard Neighborhood Service Center or any retailer in Ballard.

Allison Espiritu may be reached at 783-1244 or allisone@robinsonnews.com.