For Mike Bell of Bell Event Services, using biodiesel generators is the only way to stage an event. Especially when biodiesel generators reduce emissions by up to 80 percent more than conventional ones.
This weekend, the entrepreneur takes the helm as event manager for Fiesta Hermosa, one of the largest events of its kind. And guess what's powering the event: biodiesel generators.
Bell even makes the biodiesel fuel that powers his generators.
"We use cooking oils from restaurants," he told Patch Thursday. Some of the restaurants include Patrick Molloy's, Fat Face Fenner's and Hennessey's, all on Pier Plaza in Hermosa Beach.
Bell provides each eatery with containers to store the oil leftover from cooking French fries and the like. Year-round he collects 10 gallons of oil each week from the businesses at no charge to them.
"Using biodiesel generators is a way to keep Fiesta Hermosa green," he said, acknowledging the valet bicycle area and a recycling program as contributing to the green effort as well.
From 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Hermosa Cyclery will offer a free bike valet service just south of the Hermosa Beach Pier, he said, enabling folks to ditch their cars and ride bikes to the event.
"I encourage people to ride their bikes [to the event]," said Bell, who is in his 8th year of being with the Fiesta. Bell Event Services also provides the audio and stage lighting for the event.
He is quick to thank the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Bureau for their great work and for keeping several Hermosa Beach events afloat when the city budget could no longer cover them.
Bell has worked on the chamber's St. Patrick's Day Parade for about 7 years and the chamber's New Year's Eve and Holiday Tree Lighting events the past 3.
This past Dec., he took his biodiesel generators and other equipment to Manhattan Beach to handle the audio, lighting and band for the city's centennial celebration that included fireworks.
He said he stays "in line [price wise] with my competition, not too high, not too low."
For the Fiesta, he expects about 150,000 people during the event's three days.
He said impacted city streets will not be closed until 3 a.m. Saturday but that lots A and B on either side of the pier will be closed on Friday.
Are you going to Fiesta Hermosa? What do you think of its greenness?
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