Successful Groups & Events

Numerous groups have successfully created fragrance-free events, including on-going weekly, annual, week-end, and week-long events.

Dance groups

Seattle's folk dance community

• • • Fragrance-free guidelines and resources (includes how-to's and products)

• • http://www.paulbestock.com/Cascadia/fragrancecopy.html

Boston Gender-Free Contra Dance

• http://lcfd.org/jp/

Houston Area Traditional Dance Society

• http://www.hatds.org/fragrance-free.php

Religious and spiritual groups

The Pacific Northwest Quaker Women's Theology Conference

• • • has made their gathering fragrance-free

• • http://pnwquakerwomen.org/Site/Home-1.html

Friends General Conference Gathering

• • • is largely fragrance-free.  

• • http://www.fgcquaker.org/gathering/accessibility

    • "Fragrance Sensitivities - The Gathering includes people with asthma and chemical sensitivities which are triggered by fragrances. Help these Friends stay healthy by doing your best to bring fragrance-free toiletries (or buy them at the Gathering Store). If you have fragrance senstivities or allergies, read about steps taken to limit air-borne allergens and fragrances at the Gathering."

The Mid-Winter Gathering of Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC)

• • • is fragrance-free

    • 2010 Mid-Winter: 

http://sites.google.com/site/midwinter2010/scent_free

"In order to make Midwinter Gathering safer for those with chemical sensitivities, we ask that all attenders refrain from using scented personal care and laundry products immediately prior to or during the Gathering. Please note that not all “unscented” products are fragrance-free; avoid products with ingredient lists that include the word fragrance (including botanical fragrance and natural fragrance), or essential oils (e.g. oil of primrose, or sandalwood oil). For your assistance, below is a basic list of fragrance-free products (used without permission). Many of these products are available in ordinary drug stores; others are available from health food stores or online vendors. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

"Please note that although we are asking participants to refrain from wearing or using scented products, [site] is not a fragrance-free facility. See our accessibility page for more information."

http://sites.google.com/site/midwinter2010/accessibility

"Information for those with chemical sensitivities:

"[site] is not a scent-free facility. Sheets at [site] are laundered by an outside professional service; while we will re-launder sheets for attenders housed in our scent-sensitive housing/bathroom cluster, this may not remove all chemical residue. Furthermore, [site] uses scented cleaning products; while we are negotiating whether they can change to fragrance-free products we do not know if we will be successful. We are also currently exploring the possibility of re-cleaning some areas using scent-free products, but this will not remove the residue of fragrant product. During our recent visit to [site], there was a strong fragrance from the cleaning supplies.

"We are requesting that all Midwinter attenders refrain from using scented personal care and laundry products immediately prior to or during the Gathering; however, we cannot guarantee that all attenders will respect this request."

• • • FLGBTQC home page: http://flgbtqc.quaker.org/index.html

Friends Meetings

• • • Baltimore Monthly Meeting of Friends, Stony Run (MD)

      • "9:30 am: MEETING FOR WORSHIP in the Meeting Room. Those who attend are asked by Ministry & Counsel to refrain from wearing perfumes, colognes or other products that contain fragrances."

• • Twin Cities Friends Meeting (MN)

    • • "TCFM is striving to provide a scent-free gathering place. Please refrain from wearing fragrances and scented products. Thank you."

      • from a "Welcome!" brochure/flyer available to visitors:  "Please be aware that Friends in our Meeting with asthma and chemical sensitivities often are adversely affected by certain chemicals and other substances. Therefore, we appreciate it if you refrain from using scented products, including perfume and aftershave."  (No formal policy or minute.)

  • Northampton Friends Meeting (MA)

    • • Leaflet, Northamption Friends: Creating a safe and inclusive Meeting for Friends with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, http://www.toxicsinfo.org/canary/Northampton%20Friends%20Leaflet.htm

  • Milwaukee Monthly Meeting

  • Red Cedar Friends Meeting (MI)

    • • "A Request of Friends, Newcomers, Visitors to Red Cedar Friends Meeting.  Please refrain from using products with fragrances (natural or not). The fewer scented products (e.g., perfumes, aftershave, lotions, body washes, shampoos, cosmetics, laundry soap, and fabric softeners) we all use, the more likely people with respiratory conditions, chemical sensitivities and allergies will be able to enjoy and participate fully in our Meeting. Thank you."

      • http://redcedarfriends.org/

      • RCFM Chemical Sensitivity Resources, http://rcf-chemical-sensitivity.wikispaces.com/

  • New Brunswick Friends Meeting (NJ)

    • • new language not live on the website yet, but posted in the entryway

Other Pagan groups, Quaker Meetings, synagogues, and other spiritual and faith communities who want to be accessible have created environments that are more fragrance-free. 

If you know of other groups who have successfully created more fragrance-free environments and events, please let me know!