Follow @streetfeast or #streetfeast on twitter for latest updates
For interviews please contact:
Samuel Bishop - 086 2121492
Clare Mulvany - 086 1918665
Email - press@streetfeast.ie or hello@streetfeast.ie
PRESS RELEASES
LATEST: Friday 26th August 2011 - Communities across Ireland to celebrate Street Feast with a meal on their streets this Sunday 28th August
What do Galway’s Spanish Arch, Cork’s Patrick street and Dublin’s Flea Market all have in common this Sunday 28th of August?
They’re all playing host to a Street Feast, a gathering of neighbours for food and fun to celebrate their community.
Over 30 communities across Ireland will take to their streets this Sunday to celebrate their local communities. For the past weeks neighbours have been distributing flyers, knocking on doors, hosting organising meetings and making bunting, all the while preparing for the big day.
“On Sunday the 28th of August we’re inviting people all over Ireland to host a local lunch with their neighbours”, said Sam Bishop, one of the co-founders of Street Feast. “Each Street Feast is self-organised and can be as simple as a few families getting together, or as exciting as a full-blown street party. Some communities have decided to close off their streets to traffic, others are clearing their cul-de-sacs, having parties in parks and green spaces or in front of apartment complexes. There’ll even be one in a car park!”
Around the country an inspiring array of creative and resourceful feasts are being planned. Notably the Somali Community are inviting the residents of Cork city to join them on Patrick Street while residents of Daingean in Co. Offaly will be celebrating on the banks of the grand canal. Galway residents will be having a picnic at the Spanish Arch while in Limerick a big celebration is promised on Clancy strand, overlooking the Shannon. In Dublin residents in Clontarf will congregate in a carpark, and there will be feasts happening all across the city from Drimnagh to the North Strand, and from Santry to Blackrock.
The Rialto Street Feast is being held on the site of a vandalised playground, and in front of a new community garden. The group of residents who live on Reuben St in Dublin 8 say they have invited 250 households to bring a dish and take part in their first Street Feast experience. A diverse mix of long-term and new residents, flats and terraces, social housing and rented accommodation means that the organisers have no idea what to expect. Street performers, musicians and face-painters will also be on hand to entertain. “We are finding that the Street Feast is a great way to tell people about new local initiatives, such as the community garden and monthly street clean-up’, said Mary Gunning, one of the local organisers. ‘We are hoping the event will show people what else they can get involved with, and how much fun it can be too’.
The Street Feast initiative also aims to bring more life back on our Streets. “People don’t realise that public space is theirs” said Sean Harrington, a Dublin based Architect who designed the Millennium bridge which was used for the recent Street Feast launch. “Streets and squares are for people to inhabit and enjoy; they belong to the citizen. There’s a sense of ownership which is really important”
Clare Mulvany, one of the co-ordinators of this year’s campaign added, ”Street Feast is all about celebrating your street, area or community. It’s about building stronger communities, eating great food and celebrating the people around you in public space. It’s also about helping to forge stronger links between local food suppliers, business and neighbourhoods”.
Also on the 28th, in Newmarket Sq, the Dublin Flea Market will be inviting punters and local residents to sit down and tuck in to a ‘FleaFeast’. Surrounded by food-market stalls, bric-a-brac and bunting, the long table positioned across the square will be the centre point to celebrating the community of traders that have been coming back to the square year upon year.
Over in Harold’s Cross, local resident Louise Williams has been busy with preparations, “I’ve been really surprised at how curious my neighbours have been, espically once I put a poster in my window. Now everyone wants to know more and find out how they can help. We live in a terrace and did not know very many people. By organising a feast I am having face to face conversations with people I have never met before”. Commenting on what she hope the Feast will bring to the community, she added, “I’m not sure what that long term outcome will be, but if it helps to build a sense of community so that we look after each other more, particularly over the winter when we may need to clear the streets of ice or pop in on elderly neighbours, then I think we will have done something really worthwhile”.
In Limerick, word of mouth has been spreading at the local farmer’s market and among the allotment communities. “I’ve been living in Limerick for the past year, so it’s a good excuse for me to get out there and meet people”, said Muireann DeBarra who is helping to organise a feast. “There are about 5 of us behind it, and it’s just a case of word of mouth. I think it’s something that will really grow. I think there is a growing awareness around Limerick now about food production and where food is sourced from. So people are really open to it’
In a trend that may buck the idea that the recession is not a time for giving, local businesses have been very supportive to communities all around the country, providing food, tables and chairs to the events. “We have also seen hundreds of volunteers willing to lend a hand on the day, added Clare Mulvany, “The beauty is that it doesn’t cost anything - that’s the thing about Street Feast, it is showing what can be achieved when we rally together to share resources and help to build our communities”.
The weather forecast so far is looking promising. Street Feasters all across the country are hoping it stays that way.
More information and a map of locations for feasts on 28th August can be found on the Street Feast website (www.streetfeast.ie)
ENDS:
For interviews:
Nationwide Coordinators
Samuel Bishop - 086 2121492
Street Feast Location: Parkview Park, Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow. 12.30pm - 4pm
Clare Mulvany - 086 1918665
Street Feast Location: Reuben Street, Rialto, Dublin 8. 1pm-4pm
Email: hello@streetfeast.ie, press@streetfeast.ie
Website: http://streetfeast.ie
Local Organisers:
Louise Williams - 087 6226111
Street Feast: Fitzgerald Street, Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6
12pm - 4pm
Barbara O’Sullivan - 086 3055057
Street Feast: The Briars, Ashbourne, Co.Meath
2pm - 6pm
Muireann de Barra - 087 7411136
Street Feast: Robert O Byrne Park, Clancy Strand, Limerick City
12pm - 3.30pm
Aisling Rogerson - 0879614755
Street Feast: Dublin Flea Market Feast, Cornmarket Sq, Dub 8
11am - 5pm
Follow @streetfeast & #streetfeast on twitter for the latest updates
Additional Quotations:
Kieran Allen, Donaghmede, Co. Dublin.
“I went round to each house in my cul-de-sac and knocked on the door, handed them a personal note of invitation. And I told them where I lived, and told the idea is that we take our tables out onto the street and eat together. Upon that, their faces turned from full of fear, to “that’s a great idea!” My neighbour who’s lived in the area for 30 years told me that “If you take tables out onto the street, I will be dancing on them”.
Pauline Sargent, Drimnagh, Dublin 8.
“Having a street feast in Drimnagh is another event that helps keep the community spirit alive. It’s fun, free & right on our doorstep.It’s a great chance to sit down, get your feet under the table & enjoy some longer moments to talk & laugh with neighbours.”
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Previous Press Releases
Wednesday 3rd August 2011 - Flash Feast: Street Feast to surprise Dublin with a pot-luck lunch over the Liffey
Sunday 18th July 2010 - Hundreds of neighbours take to the streets to celebrate community
Monday 12th July 2010 - Neighbourhoods across Ireland prepare to Street Feast
