It’s that time of year when dressing from a dumpster is not only acceptable, but celebrated.
The Sixth Annual Trashion Show at World Famous Woody’s Tavern, 221 S. Main St., will be held on Saturday, Feb. 25, as a fundraiser for the nonprofit Resiliency Hub.
Participants and event-goers of years past may recall flurries of fire spinners, live music, deejays and personalized costumes made from recycled materials or trash.
True to tradition, a house DJ will supplement this year’s headlining act, El Scorcho, a Weezer cover band from Grand Junction, Colorado. The two forces will combine with the Fiery Furnace Marching Band to keep feet moving from 8 p.m. to last call.
Past recollections may also include three fashion contest categories (“most couture,” “most creative” and “trashiest”) that pave the way for participants to win prizes provided by an array of local businesses. Traditionally, finalists are beckoned to strut their costumes on an energetic runway.
This year, the Trashion Show will also feature a runway that will be open for anyone and everyone in costume, at 10:30 p.m.
“The Open Runway, new this year, is especially geared toward inviting everyone to share in the experience,” said Jeremy Lynch, a Resiliency Hub board member. “Display your costume. Dance as you want to dance. Just be who you are, unencumbered, in the company of friends and neighbors.”
The Resiliency Hub seeks to enhance well-being on the Colorado Plateau by providing opportunities to rethink, retrofit and regenerate community. Its mission makes it a likely candidate to carry on the legacy that stems all the way back to the annual WabiSabi Fashion Show.
“This year’s Trashion Show, holding true to its history, is about inclusion and acceptance and an embrace of creativity,” Lynch said. “… Celebrations like the Trashion Show support the small acts of creative ingenuity at the heart of community. The more consciously and constructively creative we are, the more of a hand we have in reshaping the world around us.”
The Resiliency Hub has roots in serving the Moab community.
In 1991, Canyonlands Community Recycling opened a recycling center in Moab. The Solid Waste Special Service District took over recycling operations in 2010, and CCR evolved to promote sustainability in Moab through educational and outreach programs. Now, CCR has “retrofitted” itself into the Resiliency Hub, which expands on this mission.
“The Trashion Show is an opportunity to engage in creatively rethinking how we use resources, in this case tapping into our waste stream to make fashionable costumes,” Resiliency Hub Board President Jeff Adams said. “A goal of the Resiliency Hub is to model and catalyze positive solutions by harnessing this creative energy to transform discarded or underutilized resources into aesthetic, fun and productive components of society.”
All of the proceeds from the Trashion Show will go to the Resiliency Hub, which is developing an interactive community space at the corner of 100 West and Walnut Lane called the CommuniTea Garden. The space is an effort of the nonprofit to bring more green community space to Moab, demonstrate ecologically based gardening techniques, host educational events and bring awareness of the environment and the arts.
Lynch said he believes public gathering spaces to be a product of healthy communities.
“Think of town squares, public gardens, and – especially in rural communities – bars,” he said. “One goal of the Trashion Show… is to create spaces for community members to come together, share and exchange. This may be a physical space, like the CommuniTea Garden, or a more ephemeral, passing ‘space’ like an annual arts-based dance and music party. The more we diversify how we gather, the more inclusive we are.”
Past winning contestants of the Trashion Show have worn costumes ranging from a cocktail dress made from old vinyl record albums to a bird costume made with feathers from shredded paper. Costumes are not required, but attendees who wear them will save $5 off the $15 cover at the door.
This year’s prize packages include but are not limited to offerings from WabiSabi, the Remnant, Eklecticafe and Moab Gear Trader.
The Resiliency Hub would like to thank its main event sponsor, the Solid Waste District, and the many other local businesses and entities that continue to make the Trashion Show possible.
Trashion Show fundraiser comes to Woody’s on Feb. 25
What: Sixth Annual Trashion Show
When: Saturday, Feb. 25, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Where: World Famous Woody’s Tavern, 221 S. Main St.
Cost: $10 in costume, $15 without a costume
Information: resiliencyhub@gmail.com
