By Jim Cavan

From practical and simple solutions designed to reduce home energy bills, to the area’s largest selection of green and local products, you’ll find it all at The 1st Annual Seacoast Green Home & Living Show, February 27 & 28, 2010 at The Frank Jones Center.

The Seacoast’s largest green consumer event, this year’s Green Home & Living Show will include 20 seminars from industry experts, demonstrations on sustainable cooking, yoga and massage therapy sessions, as well as raffles and prizes – all covering over 21,000 square feet and three expo halls.

The show will also feature the Green Alliance (GA) marketplace, highlighting local businesses specializing in organic, fair-trade, local and earth-friendly products. Started in Portsmouth a little over a year and a half ago, the Green Alliance has since grown into an 83-member strong union of small to medium-sized businesses, offering marketing and networking services as well as a discount co-op membership to over 1,000 individual members.

For founder and Director Sarah Brown, bringing together over a dozen GA businesses proves just how far the organization has come. “A lot of people know about these businesses and their green practices, but they’ve rarely seen them all in one place like this,” says Brown. “The hope is that they’ll see their favorite business alongside other green businesses and maybe choose to start shopping there as well.”

All paying entrants will receive a “Green Bill” equal to the amount paid for their ticket. “Green Bills” as treated, just like cash, when used to purchase hundreds of green gifts, locally-made crafts, and other eco- products and services offered in The Green Alliance Marketplace.

Peter Romano, Senior Producer for Vermont-based Green Event Pros, who is helping coordinate and promote the show, thinks the Seacoast is prime terrain for such an event: “Our goal is to put the latest earth friendly products of services, from companies that are really doing their part, in front of largest number of Seacoast residents, “says Romano, who has helped orchestrate similar shows in Portland Maine, Los Angeles, and New York City. “The Green Alliance Marketplace in particular is really unique, in that they bring all these great green and local products and services under one roof, which is itself good for the environment.”

The show is open-to-the-public Saturday10am - 7pm, and Sunday10am - 5pm. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for seniors and active military. Children 16 and under are free. The first 1,000 people to enter Saturday will receive a free “eco-gift” and everyone is invited to enter to win a $15,000 Green Home Makeover, which includes a complete home energy audit, courtesy of Building Alternatives of NH.

Businesses in the Green Alliance Marketplace will include: Affordable Weatherization Solutions, Ultra Geothermal, Serendipity of Exeter, Water Revitalization Ltd., Suntree Tree Health Care, Cardea Chiropractic Well Being, Pocos Bow Street Cantina, Ridgeview Construction, ReVision Energy, GreenPoma, American EcoThermal Two Ceres Street, Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, and Just Us Chickens.