Park focus is sustainability

Sitting between the natural beauties of Mount Mansfield and Camel’s Hump along Route 100 is a lot of land with some shipping containers on it. The containers will be opened this week as Greenspark has a soft opening of the “interactive sustainability park.”

“It started back in 2010 when my wife and I left New York and we moved into our car and went cross-country for a year,” said Greenspark owner Alex Chernomazov. “We zigzagged coast to coast up to Alaska, down to Florida. And we were looking to see what people do to live sustainably.”

They originally did this for themselves, but they decided keeping this information to themselves wasn’t benefitting anyone. Instead they wanted to showcase their findings, bridge the gap between what people think is available for sustainable living and what’s actually out there.

Chernomazov found it’s more than just the options between a Chevy Volt or a Prius for transportation, or wind and solar power for renewable energy, and cinder blocks or wood aren’t the only choices for building structures.

The park, located just past the Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury Center on a grassy slope, will feature exhibits on sustainable transportation, renewable energy and green building. Chernomazov has brought in a wind bike, a battery and bike infused car-like vehicle, and a City Car, one of the first electrically-powered vehicles on the market.

Solar panels and other renewable energy sources will also be featured. The entire park is off the electric grid, only utilizing power from its solar panels.

The sustainable building section shows the various stages of building in different ways, utilizing different materials. Each of the panels shown have a window to see through the layers built.

“Ultimately, it is part of our mission to promote sustainable living, and have kids come in and get inspired about what’s possible,” Chernomazov said. He knows kids are the future, and wants them to be inspired going forward. He wants his 4-year-old daughter, Maya, to be able to see the world the same way he did.

The park got off to a rocky start after not completing its kickstarter fundraising campaign — the original plan was to open over the summer. Instead, Chernomazov and his wife forged ahead with the project, scaling back the number of exhibits and using shipping containers to house the exhibits instead of a building.

In the spring, as Chernomazov continues to open more of the exhibits, Greenspark will also host workshops, bringing in instructors to show the process to people that want to help set up the exhibits and take the ideas back home for themselves. He also hopes to partner with schools to bring the kids to the park and talk about sustainable living.

More information can be found at greensparkvt.com.