AMHERST — Protesters involved in a campaign to encourage customers to close accounts at banks that finance construction of oil and natural gas pipelines recently held a guerrilla street performance aimed at drawing attention to the issue.
The divestment campaign, focused on alerting passersby to projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline, set up in front of the Bank of America at the heart of downtown on April 13, with the activists creating their own bank and pretending to be bank executives pouring oil over the heads of customers.
Amherst resident Marc Osten, dressed in a fancy suit and top hat as he played the role of a banker, said he would like to see people give donations to groups fighting pipeline construction rather than keep their money in banks,
“What we forget is we give far more money to the banks that cause the problems (than) we donate money to stop,” Osten said. “We’ve got to take our money away from them.”
Osten was joined in what he called provocative non-violent direct action by college student Izzy Germain and business owner Nicole Blum.
Activists also held a large sign in front of the entrance that read “Using your $ to fund destruction” that featured logos of Bank of America and TD Bank.
The action lasted less than an hour, but again drew attention to the pipelines as the protesters had in March, when they locked themselves to oil barrels and splattered themselves with what looked like oil, and a more forceful effort in December, when they blocked both entrances to the TD Bank branch on Triangle Street and were arrested.
A literature table encouraged people to close their accounts and to send letters to the bank manager and employees.
Earth Day will be celebrated in Amherst with the ninth annual Sustainability Festival, where more than 100 vendors of renewable energy and energy efficiency products alongside advocacy groups and sustainable craftspeople and artisans will be set up on the Town Common.
The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The festival will feature a new art exhibit and installation called the Climate Transformer that will provide information, performances and surprises.
Demonstrations begin at 11 a.m. with David Lovler showing how to grow, save and eat beans, continue at noon with Megan Brockelbank talking about gluten free and sugar alternatives in cooking and at 1 p.m. with Shoshona King explaining how to make plarn, concluding at 2 p.m. with Emma Hayes growing wine caps and allying with fungal kingdom.
Stage performers include Chris Scanlon and the Other Guys, Under the Tree Music, Tuff Riddim International, Valley Women Drummers and Luke DeRoy Trio, as well as the Piti Theatre Company.
The festival will be in honor the late musician Art Steele, who provided sound for the event since it started in 2009., and its predecessor, the Renewable Energy Fair.
“Art was very supportive of this event and understood that it was about the community coming together to celebrate the planet and to learn how to lessen our impact on it,” Sustainability Coordinator Stephanie Ciccarello said in a statement.
Other activities include face painting by Marcy Gregoire of Under the Tree Arts and a recycling station for pellet bags, Styrofoam chunks and clothing, rags, electronics and single-use plastic bags.
For more information, go to the festival website at www.amherstma.gov/ sustainabilityfestival
A Dessert Crawl that will benefit the nonprofit literacy foundation Reader to Reader takes place in Amherst center from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Put on by the Amherst Business Improvement District, for $10 people can sample desserts at Chez Albert, Bertucci’s, Fire and Ice Yoga & Juice Bar, GoBerry, Glazed Doughnut Shop, Henion Bakery, Insomnia Cookies, Malek Shawarma Mediterranean Cafe and Paradise of India, as well as Tandem Bagel from Easthampton, which will be at the Visitor Information Center on South Pleasant Street.
The Amherst Survival Center, in collaboration with the Franklin Hampshire Career Center, sponsors a job fair from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the 138 Sunderland Road site.
The job fair is part of the center’s job search assistance program that has included one-on-one assistance Thursdays
“We’re excited to present these programs, and to work in partnership with the Franklin Hampshire Career Centers and the prospective employers, in order to bring this possible employment service to our participants,” said Mindy Domb, executive director of the Survival Center.
The University of Massachusetts Motorsport Club is hosting the 11th annual UMass Car Show Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Lot 33 off University Drive.
More than 600 vehicles will be displayed and judged in 14 categories, and will also be a live DJ, audio sound-off and an exhaust competition.
Admission is free but there is a $10 entry charge for vehicles to be in the show.
MONDAY: Jones Library Budget Committee, 9:05 a.m., Goodwin Room, Jones Library; Charter Commission, 5:30 p.m., Community Room, police station; Select Board, 6:30 p.m., Town Room, Town Hall; LSSE Commission, 7 p.m., LSSE Conference Room, middle school.
TUESDAY: Jones Library Buildings and Facilities Committee, 1 p.m., and Library Trustees, 4 p.m., both at Goodwin Room, Jones Library; Amherst School Committee, 6 p.m., high school library.
WEDNESDAY: Select Board, 6 p.m., Band Room, middle school, Town Meeting, 7 p.m., middle school auditorium.
THURSDAY: Town Meeting, 7 p.m., middle school auditorium.
