The meal is accompanied by a more intimate music performed by one of Pickathon’s artists. Over the years, Pickathon has gained notability for promoting more sustainable practices. They offer eco-friendly transportation and encourage biking to the festival. In addition, in 2011, they eliminated all plastic tableware, and in turn also became the first large outdoor U.S. festival to do so. This means you either have to bring tableware or purchase/borrow from a vendor. Pickathon also uses its own solar energy and sustainable fuel through their partnership with the company Star Oilco. There’s also a group of volunteer recycling and composting teams. Pickathon has promised to keep working towards a more sustainable options for the future. Pickathon originally started in 1999 as a fundraiser for the FM radio station, KBOO. The first venue was Horning's Hideout, a private park in North Plains, Oregon. The first annual Pickathon only managed to host around ninety people, including performers. Despite the low attendance, a discouraged Schoenborn continued the festival the following year at the Horning's Hideout. Attendance growth stayed relatively low through 2004 with attendance bouncing around the low and high two-hundreds. Schoenburg suggested it took a miracle for the festival to survive through those rough first years. In 2005, Horning's Hideout backed out two months before the 7th annual event was scheduled. Schoenborn and other organizers, scrambling to find a venue, found an open property in Woodburn, Oregon. This was the first year they had running water and electricity. Along with the water and electricity, it was also the first year they met GuildWorks, an event fabric architecture installation company. In 2006, Pickathon would see their second relocation; this time to ending up at Pendarvis Farms in Happy Valley, Oregon. This would become their location to this day. In an effort to become more environmentally friendly, Pickathon eliminated all plastic tableware. On August 8th of 2019, two arborists and workers of GuildWorks, Brad Swet, 35, and Brandon Blackmore, 27, died as a boom lift, which was set on an incline, toppled over during take down of the festival. In a statement released by the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, the workers were ascending the lift when the incident occurred. In February 2020, the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued $31,000 in fines to Pickathon LLC and GuildWorks LLC for failing to follow safety precautions.