ABSTRACT
Encouraging sustainable behaviour is increasingly becoming a priority for governments at a national and local level. One mechanism for achieving this goal is to organise events with a sustainability focus, which aim to foster behaviour change amongst attendees. These sustainability festivals or ecofests generally provide information for attendees on how to engage in sustainable behaviour, often involving workshops or lectures, but also through showcasing local sustainable businesses and their products. This chapter focuses on a qualitative case study of the Ecofest in New Zealand, an event which was staged annually between 2001 and 2014. The aim of this chapter is to consider the benefits of attending ecofests from a business but also a societal perspective, and to chart the reasons why this kind of event fell out of favour in this region of New Zealand. Data were collected through interviews with attendees and fieldwork, which included in situ observation of the range of organisations and businesses involved in the 2010 event. Exploring the reasons why people attended the event and what they sought from attendance helps us to understand the potential outcomes of these events for attendees and the ramifications of cancelling the event.
