Geek Fair 2005 Press Release with Bands

For Immediate Release

What: GEEK FAIR FIVE! A Community Street Party

Where: Free Geek, 1731 SE 10th Avenue, Portland.

When: Saturday, July 16th 2005 – 1p to 7p

Portland, Oregon – On Saturday, July 16, Free Geek will celebrate 5 years of operating the Community Technology Center with a Street Party and Fund Raiser. Geek Fair Five! is a free event for all ages. Festivities start at 1pm and go until 7pm.

Geek Fair Five! will have two stages of live music and delicious organic food & refreshments. There will be tons of fun stuff to check out: “Beat-the Geek” game show, Smash-tacular! (you get to go all “Office Space” on a printer of your choosing), eco-friendly info. booths, video gaming room, indy video screenings, chunk bikes and kids activities.

Geek Fair Five! will be showcasing several geeked out local performers, including: The Bad Mintons, Beliss, Dorado, The Black Peppercorns, Empty Room, Like a Circus Fire, Raina Rose, The Sprockettes, Trashcan Joe, Tre Music and Dan Mills, Vivian's Keeper, Chunk 666, SweetJuice, and The Vulturines.

Geek Fair Five! gives the public many fun ways to contribute to the Free Geek cause. There will be a silent auction with lots of great items donated from local businesses, and a raffle featuring a really nice Linux computer as the grand prize. Spend time battling for network supremacy in the game room. Free Geek's computer thrift store will also be open with some great specials and bargains for the computer hobbyist.

Geek Fair Five! is sponsored by Free Geek and the following local businesses and organizations. Backspace, CD Baby, The City Repair Project, KBOO 90.7 FM Community Radio, Roots Organic Brewery, SCRAP and Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Program.

Free Geek is a local non-profit organization that recycles and refurbishes donated computers and other electronic equipment, making it available to individuals and non-profits in the community. Volunteers can participate, learn and earn a free computer system in the process. Volunteer orientation tours are held daily at noon and 6pm.

In five years of operation, Free Geek has received over 230,000 donated gizmos, while more than 4,500 volunteers have refurbished over 5,500 computer systems that have been given away through their various programs. Free Geek's recycling program has salvaged over 600 tons of e-scrap, keeping toxins such as lead, and mercury from the landfill and recovering the valuable materials such as gold and copper for reuse.

For more information, check out the Geek Fair webpage at www.freegeek.org/geekfair. Pre-event press tours available by appointment.

Media Contact: Oso Martín, oso at freegeek.org, 503-232-9350 work, 503-750-8780 cell