The Conservation Alliance will celebrate its 25th anniversary with an evening party at the 2014 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market this August. The organization was founded in 1989 by Patagonia, Kelty, The North Face and REI. Membership now includes more than 180 outdoor industry companies that work together to protect North America's wild places.
The Alliance's 25th Anniversary Party will be held at Café Molise on Thursday, August 7th, from 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm, in conjunction with Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. The party will include music by the Infamous Stringdusters, food, beverages, and some creative and unique displays of the work The Alliance has accomplished over the past 25 years.
The Infamous Stringdusters are among the top bluegrass bands in the nation. The New York Times says: "[The Infamous Stringdusters'] toe-tapping rhythms, torrents of 16th notes and the contours of Appalachian melodies are their clear foundations. But genre doesn't hold them back. What sounds casual and good-timey is intricately plotted and arranged, attentive to the textures of each voice and string. The Infamous Stringdusters don't leave bluegrass behind; they're stretching it from within."
"Twenty-five years ago, four companies came together around a shared belief that the outdoor industry needed to do more to protect wild places for their habitat and recreation values," said Conservation Alliance Executive Director John Sterling. "In August, we will celebrate that vision and 25 years worth of conservation success."
Since its inception in 1989, the Alliance has contributed nearly $13 million to grassroots conservation groups. Alliance funding has helped save more than 42 million acres of wildlands; protect 2,748 miles of rivers; stop or remove 25 dams; designate five marine reserves; and purchase nine climbing areas.