KINGSTON — There was something different about EcoFest this year but it was a change that Stillwaters Environmental Education Center Administrative director Naomi Maasberg was happy to see.

The attendees of the Earth Day event April 22 weren’t the typical crowd of local green supporters. There were many new faces as well, Maasberg said.

The event started in 2000 as an Earth Day party celebration for friends of Maasberg and Stillwaters program director Joleen Palmer, but “now there’s all sorts of new people,” Maasberg said.

She attributed this to the fact that Kingston was filled with other events Saturday, such as the opening of the Kingston Farmers Market, Friends of the Kingston Library book sale, and various rummage sales benefiting nonprofit organizations. But regardless, the attendance number, approximately 500, was right on target for the day, considering it was sunny skies all around.

Those who were out and about during Saturday’s event were there for a variety of reasons — enjoying the entertainment, watching kids get their faces painted and participating in crafts or visiting the different booths to get information on different environmental topics.

“All the information you can’t get all in one place (in) one year,” said Wendy McNeal, who was working at the Habitat For Humanity of Kitsap County booth.

A new feature at EcoFest this year was a demonstration of a locally-owned biodeisel car. Siblings Raven and Dolphin Bode-Hemmer, grandchildren of Kingston resident Marilyn Bode, were talking with folks about their 2006 biodiesel Volkswagon Jetta. The vehicle runs on 99 percent vegetable oil and 1 percent diesel. Raven said they pay $2.99 a gallon, which is just slightly cheaper than diesel alone. But it gets higher fuel efficiency with biodeisel than with regular diesel, he said, with 45 miles per gallon in the city and 50 mpg on the highway.

The siblings live in the Olympia area with their parents on an organic farm and attend school outside of the district but also share the car with Bode in Kingston. Besides transportation to school, the family needed a car for trips outside of town. It also owns a diesel-operated Suburban, which runs on biodiesel, too.

“The biodiesel car fits our lifestyle,” Raven said. “That sort of keys in with that.”

Maasberg was impressed with the siblings’ interest in the car — something she said gives her hopes that younger generations are paying attention to their impact on the environment.

“That’s really cool the teens are excited about it,” she said.

Stillwaters also handed out its annual Earth Day Awards, which recognize businesses, citizens and volunteers that have made an environmental difference.

The Sustainable Business of the Year award went to Grounds for Change, a Poulsbo-based organic coffee roaster that focuses on the social, environmental and financial impacts of the coffee industry with their free-trade and shade grown beans.

The Margaret Mead Committed Citizens Award was given to Debbie Anderson, who wears a variety of hats in the community, including branch manager of the Kingston American Marine Bank, and a member of Kingston-North Kitsap Rotary, Greater Kingston Kiwanis and Kingston Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s something I enjoy doing,” Anderson said as she received her award, a framed print of the 2006 EcoFest art poster, a bright watercolor piece painted by local artist Alan Weisser.

The Volunteer of the Year Award went to Stillwaters’ stream team monitoring group, which consists of 28 volunteers who have been keeping a close eye on the health of local streams with water monitoring tests.