Rock to Know: A Benefit Concert for Prop. 37 to Label GE Foods

On Tuesday, October 23rd, National Food Day, there will be a benefit concert at Silo’s in Downtown Napa to raise awareness and support for Proposition 37 to label genetically engineered (GE) food in California, which is on the ballot and will be decided on November 6th.

On Tuesday, October 23rd, National Food Day, there will be a benefit concert at Silo’s in Napa to raise awareness and support for Proposition 37 to label genetically engineered (GE) food in California, which is on the ballot and will be decided on November 6th.

Linda and Harry Price, owners of the Napa Mill, have donated Silo’s space, and two local bands, Juliane and Friends and the Johnny Smith Group, will be playing pro bono. Erica Martenson, local coordinator for the “Yes” on 37 campaign, along with staff at Silo’s, organized the event, and local campaign volunteers have been working to promote it.

Tickets will be $15 in advance and can be purchased directly from Silo’s or $20 at the door with proceeds going to the Committee for the Right to Know—the statewide “Yes” on 37 campaign.

“It’s great to see various people in our community step up for consumer rights, offering their own unique resources and talents,” states Erica Martenson. “Many people have done their own personal research about GE food, are concerned about the risks these foods pose to both human health and the environment, and wish to avoid them. Labeling gives us that right.”

Local volunteers have been meeting the second and fourth Wednesday of every month from 7:00-8:00 PM at Carolyn Parr Nature Center to plan this and other local activities to promote Prop. 37, including letters to the editor, tabling in front of stores and canvassing at public events, distribution of lawn signs, a film event, and more.

“Based on some of the research that is out there, I am very concerend about genetically engineered foods. We should have the right to have them labeled, as they do in about fifty other countries, so that those of us who don't want to put them in our bodies can make that choice,” says Carol Nagle, a local volunteer who helped get Prop. 37 on the ballot and is now working to help get it passed.

To purchase tickets for the benefit concert, please go to Silo’s website at http://www.silosnapa.com/. To follow local efforts for the “Yes” on 37 campaign on Facebook, please go to http://www.facebook.com/groups/labelgmosnapa/?fref=ts.