Photos by John W. Adkisson | The Roanoke Times

Children jump in a bouncy house Saturday at the Summer Solstice Fest held in Blacksburg. The festival, sponsored by The Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg, honored the longest day of the year with a dog parade and other activities.

Charli stands with her owner Kristal "Meen Kitty" Bond of Roanoke while waiting Saturday for the dog parade to start at the Summer Solstice Fest held in Blacksburg.

Marc Fitzpatrick (left) and John Imbur, both of Blacksburg try to knock each other's hula hoops down while hoop jousting Saturday at the Summer Solstice Fest held in downtown Blacksburg.

Yuriko Renardy (center) of Blacksburg stands Saturday with her poodle, Jack, after participating in the dog parade at the Summer Solstice Fest in Blacksburg. Many of the dogs — and their owners — wore costumes for the parade that attracted about 50 dogs.

BLACKSBURG -- While there was plenty of food to eat, games to play and dogs to parade at the second annual Summer Solstice Fest on Saturday, this year's event also focused on what debris all of the fun leaves behind.

Smiley faces decorated bins set aside for recycling cans, bottles and paper while frowning faces adorned bins marked "Waste For Landfill."

The festival, organized by The Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg, was officially recognized as a "green event" by the state Department of Environmental Quality. That meant no plastic foam and, in general, more recyclable and compostable waste.

About an hour into the event, Mindy Farley and her husband, Calin Farley, owners of a Riner composting company called PME Compost, already had nearly filled one of their compost bins. The waste designated for the landfill amounted to a few plastic forks and some condiment packets.

The company, which the Farleys started four years ago, received state approval to compost food waste in January, becoming the second compost company in the state to receive that designation. Since then, clients such as Virginia Tech, Montgomery Regional Hospital and Kroger have paid for their services. This was their first festival, but they plan to be at FloydFest later this summer and, if all goes well, Blacksburg's August event, Steppin' Out.

Tech students, as part of a new club, Sustainable Food Corps, also collected food to compost at a small farm on campus.

Even Hooptie Ride got in on the sustainability efforts. The Blacksburg designated-driving service had its bicycle rickshaw out to lead the dog parade.

"The rickshaw's good on gas," owner Dave Robinson said as he looked for a place to eat lunch. "Powered by Cabo Fish tacos."

Another bike at the event designed to save energy didn't work quite as smoothly. Yusef Messallam, owner of the Bike Barn -- a Blacksburg bicycle store -- wore a green shirt with a bicycle and the words, "Global Cooling Machine" on it. He served smoothies that were supposed to be made through power generated by people pedaling a stationary bike. But some technical difficulties forced him to make them the old-fashioned way, with blenders plugged into a generator.

"We'll definitely have it for Steppin' Out," he said.

Steppin' Out, a decades-old, end-of-summer celebration, attracts larger crowds than Blacksburg's new solstice celebration. Because of the large crowds, people aren't allowed to walk around with their dogs.

But the solstice festival encourages it, with a dog parade that attracted about 50 pooches and their owners. Dogs wore lobster outfits, Superman capes, bandanas and Hawaiian leis. But the costume that got the most laughter and "awws" from the crowd was a cardboard camera attached to the back of a black Labrador named Bella.

Bella hopped down the parade path because she has only three legs.

Get it?

"People are always like, 'You have a tripod dog. Tripod dog!' It never occurred to us to incorporate it," said John Melia of Blacksburg.

Melia's wife, Kristina Toufectis, said that Bella was picked up by animal rescue in North Carolina about eight years ago with two broken legs. They had to amputate her right front leg, but her owners said she's a happy dog who still likes to run, swim and fetch sticks.

Toufectis thought of the costume Friday, but this wasn't the first time they made a costume with Bella's missing leg in mind, she said.

"She was a pirate last year."