Can you make a city greener and better — in just a weekend? GOOD wants to try. The sustainability-focused, do-gooder media platform GOOD — best known for its quarterly magazine GOOD — is going local with a weekend-long party full of DIY workshops, eco-design presentations, bike-friendly parties, and more.

 

The party’s a kickoff for GOOD LA, described as “a local community of people, projects, events, and ideas that are working to move our city forward.” Be there, and you’ll pick up some new handy tricks — while making new friends.

 

All afternoon on Sat., April 9 at Atwater Crossing, you’ll be able to take a dizzying array of workshops. Bake your first loaf of bread with the authors of Root Simple, learn to keep bees in the city with Backward Bees, plant an herb garden to take home with The Ecology Center, make your own cheapo upcycled planter with LA Guerrilla Gardening, get to know local stairs with The Big Parade and Los Angeles Stairstreet Advocates — and a whole lot more.

 

While you pick up new knowledge, you can also drop off all the stuff you no longer want — because they could be someone else’s treasure. GOOD LA will have a Community Sharing Center where you can bring everything from extra citrus from your backyard tree to pre-loved but no-longer-loved fashions. You can share, trade, or even donate your goods to a good cause.

 

The festivities will actually get their start a day earlier on Fri., April 8, with a cocktail hour when eight designers will creatively tackle eight major urban problems — ranging from homelessness to obesity. And the fun will continue on Sun., April 10, when CicLAvia returns to L.A. GOOD LA will host the CicLAvia afterparty — free to all who bring their bikes or helmets!

 

High speed rail may take a long time to build, but empowering people with a new skill takes just a few hours — so a full weekend of intensive workshops and events should help launch L.A. 2.0. RSVP for the free weekend of fun at GOOD — then start cleaning out your closet so you can contribute to the Community Sharing Center.

 

Feel left out because this party isn’t happening in your town? Don’t worry — According to the organizers, the idea is to start this experiment in LA and take it to other cities.