Last Sunday thousands of people took to the streets for their own Street Feast.
There were Street Feast all across the country and the photo and video that is coming in makes us smile, very broadly.
Now we want to keep the momentum going.
So this weekend we are packing our bags and heading to Electric Picnic. We have teamed with with some other lovely folk from Cultivate, The Ireland Iceland Project, Transition Towns and Cully and Sully to bring you different kind of picnic down on the Global Green- a feast of ideas, on picnic blankets where we will chatting about some recipes for change in Ireland.
Global Green’s Peoples Picnic Feast on all that’s good- sharing bright ideas, yummy food and soft picnic blankets. We’ re at the picnic so we thought let’s have a picnic with people we love - Street Feast, Ireland:Iceland,TransitionTowns, Cultivate.ie and Cully and Sully and all those who choose to join us. The Peoples Picnic is an innovative mash up of World Caféhttp://www.worldcafe.com/and Street Feasthttp://streetfeast.ie/) We plan to have lightly facilitated conversations about good stuff that’s happening and about even more possibilities! There will be some delicious food provided by our friends Cully and Sully but its not loaves an fishes so please bring food to share, find an edge of a picnic blanket and prepare to participate in great conversation. Forget the doom, the cold summer and come along to Global Green for the very first Peoples Picnic.
Tomorrow, Tomorrow….
Tomorrow our big Street Feast day will finally be here.
The bunting is already going up, cakes are being baked, and parties are being plotted right across the country.
As word gets back to us about preparations, we can only but smile.
We’ve heard of all sorts of acts of generosity, resourcefulness and creativity from villages to cities all over Ireland: businesses offering food; kids cooking up some buns; community centres lending tables and chairs; musicians tuning their strings; street performers getting their show ready; councils helping to close off streets; and neighbours offering to lend very helping hands. It is a reminder of the abundance of generosity and goodwill that there when we reach out and tap into it.
In so many ways, we hope that tomorrow is just the beginning of things. We hope new connections and friendship will be forged, acquaintances rekindled and the magic the can make communities great gets stirred up again.
So, as final preparations are taking place we want to say good luck to all the hosts and organisers around the county. We hope you have a super day and we can’t wait to hear how it goes.
We’d also love to see photos, video or audio recordings that you may take and we’d really appreciate a copy so that we can promote Street Feast next year and kickstart even more parties. You can send images to: hello@streetfeast.ie
For those you on twitter, our hashtag is: #streetfeast – we’d love a little tweet out during your feast.
So tonight we go to sleep with fingers and toes crossed that the sun will be on our side too. Cross yours too!
Have a happy feast!
From Clare, Samuel and Peter- the Street Feast Team.
Coming to an exciting location near you…
Two days to go.
We are so very excited.
So, this Sunday, Street Feasts will be coming to …
A street
An apartment block
A car park
A cul-de-sac
A village green
A derelict playground
A park
An archway
A flea market
A canal bank
A community garden
A a front lawn
And a picnic blanket
There has been a wonderful response, and registrations are still coming in.
Check out the map for locations around the country. There is still time to join in.
(We’ll also be hosting our very own pop-up Street Feast tomorrow, in collaboration with Le Cool, Dublin. Be sure to say ‘hi’ if you see us’
Community Resilience and Street Feast
Peter O’Brien from Dublin 6 shares his thoughts about the benefits of building stronger communities by holding a street feast.
Street Feast, Apartment style.
Street Feast can happen in apartment complexes too!
With the full support of the Bellevue management company, Bryan Patten, shares how he hopes many of his neighbours will join him next Sunday, 28th August.
Things are looking hopeful for it. Thirty people turned up to an initial planning meeting last night in support of the idea. Now all he needs is the weather to behave.
An architect’s view.
Last week we met up with Sean Harrington, architect of the Millennium Bridge. Here he shares a little of our surprise first encounter and goes on to speak about the role of public space in helping to shape and celebrate community. Thanks Sean!
How easy is it to organise a Street Feast?
With over a week to go until the big Street Feast day on 28th August there is still time to get your neighbours on board and rustle up your own feast.
Speaking at last year’s feast in Newtownmountkennedy, here Craig and Annick Bishop tell us about how they helped to make it happen, all in less than 48 hours.
So this weekend, why not knock on a few doors and see if you too can take to the streets next weekend.
Cornucopia takes to the Streets…
Feasting at Harold’s Cross.
As more Street Feast registrations come in, we popped down to meet Louise Williams who is helping to organise a Street Feast in Harold’s Cross.
Undaunted by unpredictable weather prospects, watch as Louise shows us the location of the feast and tells us a little of the process to get the party started. She’s excited. So are we!
We’d love to hear how other Street Feast preparations are taking place. If you are hosting a feast in your neighbourhood, how about recording a short video like this one on your phone, uploading to youtube, and sharing the link with us by emailing hello@streetfeast.ie
With a week and a half to go there is still lots of time to get neighbours on board and register a feast in your area on www.streetfeast.ie
Cameras, Action….
Street Feast plans are shaping up all around the country. So far there are feasts registered in Dublin, Kildare, Cork, Mayo, Galway and Wicklow, and there is lots of chatter and banter about more gearing up too.
There are a few taking place in Dublin 8. Below one of the organisers, Clare Mulvany, (who is also involved in the national campaign) talks about how she and her neighbours are organising one on the street where she lives:
We’d LOVE to hear of how other street feast preparations are taking place.
There is still lots of time to plan and prepare and we’d like to show how simple it is when neighbours get together to do it as a team.
So we are inviting you to record a short video (1-2 mins) and share your own story. Show us where the feast is taking place, and maybe a funny tale or two.
The recording can be simple too. This one above was recorded with an iPhone, but any smart phone or camera could do the trick. Then upload it to youtube and send the link to hello@streetfeast.ie
We can then help to spread the word too and hopefully inspire more feasts to happen all across the country.
Street Feast is a new national event to celebrate community.
Street Feast isn't any old shindig. It's a not-for-profit, all-for-fun, do-it-yourself celebration.
Street Feast is a neighbourhood street party that is hosted by us and our neighbours, and happens in communities all over Ireland at the same time.
This 28th August, at around 12noon, communities across Ireland will sit down for a feast to celebrate community. They can be anywhere really - out on the street, in a local park or in our front gardens.
There are lots of good reasons to have a Street Feast. Most of all it's a great excuse to eat good food, meet new people who live near you and have a bit of craic.
