Street Feast - Celebrating Community

It couldn’t be easier to host your own Street Feast. This...

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:39:28 +0100

It couldn’t be easier to host your own Street Feast. This year, we’re posting out FREE party packs to EVERY Street Feast host. Each pack contains a handy guide, invites, posters, bunting, balloons and colourful hats - All you need to get the party started! To find out more and to register your Street Feast visit www.streetfeast.ie

Street Feast Calls on Neighbours to get Together on 23rd June

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:09:33 +0100

64% of people wouldn’t welcome a new neighbour to the area

Thursday 2nd May: Today launches the 3rd annual Street Feast at a rooftop lunch at Dublin’s Urban Farm. Street Feast, in partnership with Centra, are calling on people nationwide to come together at 12noon on Sunday, 23rd June to enjoy a bite to eat with their neighbours for a simple and fun way of reconnecting with those that live near them.

In years gone by, it was likely you knew all your neighbours, not just your next door neighbours. They were people you spoke to regularly, helped you when you needed support and likewise you lent a hand in times of need. Knowing your neighbours was a sign of healthier and happier communities.

Today that seems to have all changed. In a survey carried out by Centra to mark the launch of Street Feast 2013, less than half of those surveyed, just 47%, said they “knew their neighbours to say hello to but that was it”. Remarkably almost a quarter of people said they didn’t know their neighbours at all.

Back in 2010 Street Feast was started by a group of volunteers who were passionate about bringing people together through food, to rediscover neighbourliness as the launch pad for lasting improvements within communities. Almost 200 Street Feasts have been held across the country to date and this year Street Feast, with a lending hand from Centra, are planning to substantially increase the number of events held on Sunday 23rd June.

Organisers say there are lots of good reasons to have a Street Feast, but it’s really just a great excuse to eat good food, celebrate your local community and meet new people who live in your neighbourhood. It can even be as simple as gathering a few neighbours for a picnic in the area.

From the results of this latest survey, it seems that we really do need to get out and show a bit of community spirit. When asked when the last time they had spoken to their neighbours - 30% said they hadn’t spoken to their neighbours in the past six months, with 8% saying they had never spoken to their neighbours at all. 64% of people said they wouldn’t bother to go and welcome a new neighbour into their neighbourhood, though almost the same percentage of people (62%) said that they would like to be welcomed if they moved into a new area. A staggering 72% of people said they have no involvement in their local residents association or Group. When it comes to what celebrity neighbours they would like to live beside, Brian O’Driscoll and Amy Huberman are clearly the nations favourite claiming 34% of the poll – with Bono surprisingly one of the lesser chosen favourites at just 7%.

Hosting a Street feast couldn’t be easier. People can register their Street Feast online at www.streetfeast.ie, where you’ll receive a free party pack which will be posted direct to your home. This pack provides a handy guide to help make your feast a success, as well as posters, invitations, balloons, party hats and bunting to get the party started!

Co-founder & coordinator of Street Feast Samuel Bishop said, “We are thrilled to be bringing Street Feast back for its 3rd year and calling on communities nationwide to get involved on 23rd June. People can spend as little or as much as they like and hold one anywhere from their street, front garden, a field or even their balcony! Street Feast gives us an excuse to get out there, share food and conversation, and help build stronger relations within the local community.”

Speaking about the initiative, Martin Kelleher, Managing Director, Centra commented, “Centra, with 460 stores nationwide, is at the heart of local communities throughout Ireland. We are the local retailer and are the hub of and meeting point in many communities across Ireland. This initiative is a great way for people to get involved and reconnect within their local neighbours and the community around them. Sparkling local connections is what Centra is all about and we are delighted to be a part of this initiative - getting together over something to eat is a great way to celebrate, strengthen community and make new friends.”

Clare Mulvany, a previous Street Feast host in Rialto said, “Hosting a Street Feast was such an easy way to make friends in my community. I now feel safer and happier here, knowing there are people I can call upon if I ever need to”.

Find out more and register to receive your free Street Feast party pack on www.streetfeast.ie or www.centra.ie. Street Feast is encouraging everyone to sit down with their neighbours at 12pm on 23rd June.

//Ends

Press Photos Available here: FLICK PRESS PAGE

Twitter: @streetfeast Hashtag: #streetfeast2013

For further information contact:

Astrid Brennan, Fleishman-Hillard, DL: 01 6188475 E: astrid.brennan@fleishmaneurope.com

Lydia Tierney, Fleishman-Hillard, DL: 01 6188459 E: lydia.tierney@fleishmaneurope.com

Samuel Bishop, Street Feast. 0862121492 E: samuel@streetfeast.ie

Notes to Editor:

Survey

Brand Army fielded this online survey on behalf of Centra from 22 – 26 April 2013, in a nationally representative, nationwide survey among 500 respondents, of the employed adult population aged 18+. The gender breakdown for this survey was 247 females and 253 males.

No such thing as a free lunch!

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:46:00 +0100

Well perhaps there is - with community grants. Have you enquired whether funding is available for a Street Feast or another project in your county? County & City councils usually have an allocation of funding to distribute for community and environmental initiatives. These deadlines are fast approaching. For an example, here’s Kilkenny County Council’s funding info page - Their deadline is this coming Tuesday 30th April.

If you have links to other grants for communities, please post them below!

wheels35day: Day 32 - ‘A Toastie Map of Dublin’ This is an idea...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:09:14 +0100

wheels35day:

Day 32 - ‘A Toastie Map of Dublin’

This is an idea I’ve been trying to get together for a while now, and part of the problem with getting it done was which pubs to include. I’ll be whittling it down for a Sunday afternoon tour soon…

So we love this. Who doesn’t love a good toastie?

We're giving a workshop - tonight!

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:58:48 +0100

Samuel Bishop, co-founder and coordinator of Street Feast, will be giving a talk on the multitude of creative and inspiring social food initiatives that are taking off across the globe. He’ll also introduce Street Feast, and give a quick workshop on ‘How to host a Street Feast.’

“We started it because we wanted to see more life on the streets, find more friends closer to home, and kickstart a celebration of the community around us. There’s never been a better time to shine a light on the communities, networks and organisations that are holding everything together. Street Feast gives us an excuse to get out there, share food and conversation, and help build stronger neighbourhoods.”

Food is a great way to celebrate and strengthen community. Come along on Tuesday evening to hear more about Street Feast and how food can bring people together and change a community around.

Doors at 7pm, talk starts at 7.30pm

More info here: http://www.cornucopia.ie/talks/streetfeast/

2 months to go!

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:16:00 +0100

Street Feast is on Sunday 23rd June. It’s time to get planning your feast! Check out our downloadable guide on www.streetfeast.ie for great suggestions and tips.

Remember this? Street Feast on the Millenium Bridge, Dublin.

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:09:04 +0100

Remember this? Street Feast on the Millenium Bridge, Dublin.

How about a Talent Feast?

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:18 +0000

How cute is this?! Here’s an invitation to a Street Feast Talent Show that Louise Williams in Harold’s Cross recieved in her letterbox from her 10 year old neighbour Lauran. It’s great to see the young people getting excited and planning their own feast!

The kids in Harold’s Cross Cottages in Dublin 8 are already planning their 3rd annual Street Feast for the 23rd June. We love their creativity. It leads us to wonder, what events are you planning for your Street Feast? Please let us know!

Celebrating Street Feast & Hack the City

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:49:00 +0100

It’s time to feast again!

To mark the end of summer, and the close of the Hack the City exhibition, Street Feast and the Science Gallery are whipping up a Closing lunch time Feast on September 7th.

Join HACK THE CITY participants and members of Dublin City Council, Totally Dublin, Google, Science Gallery and more as we sit down for an open-air potluck lunch, complete with curated conversations and music from HACK THE CITY’s The Outdoor Miner; a unique wearable, midi controlled, mechanical musical instrument, sound system and light show.

This one-off opportunity to bring some life to our streets will take place in front of the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. Places are free, however, we ask that you book a place and that everyone brings along a dish to share with your fellow Feast-ers!

OF course, we’d love you to join us! It’s easy to sign up; please register on the Science Gallery’s event page.

Competitions & Science Gallery

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:21:00 +0100

It’s been over a month since Street Feast took to the streets across Ireland with music, tasty food and colourful bunting. It was a beautiful day of community celebration right across the country.

Over the last month we have loved hearing stories, tales and photos from the day come in to us.

The street feast team took a bit of a break afterwards, and are now back in action gathering some of the stories and plotting and planning for how we grow and develop the Street Feast idea.

As some of you may already know, we have an installation in the Science Gallery in Dublin, with an opportunity for café visitors to share their ideas for improving the community. If you are passing through, do pop along and add your thoughts to the gallery wall.

Photo Competition

The closing date for the photo competition is this Friday 27th July. Please send your images or video to hello@streetfeast.ie (hint hint: the one which best captures the community spirit of the day will be the likely winner!)

The prize is a meal voucher for two from Clodagh’s Kitchen in Arnotts, Dublin. Yum!

Story Time

Over the next few weeks and months we are also looking to share stories and learning from Street Feasts around the country, so if you were a Street Feast host, or attended one, and you have a tale to share, or a lesson to learn, do write us a few lines with a photo of your feast. Your story will be part of a blog-post about your individual Street Feast. Send your submission to hello@streetfeast.ie - thank you!

We also have some more news and announcements from Street Feast coming soon, so watch this space…

Thank you!

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:47:00 +0100

You came out in droves. With bunting and cake and stories and games and gazebos and yurts and tea and guitars and songs and chairs and cheese and so many good things. The sun even came out too…

We are still soaking it all in and gathering the images and tales from the day. If you have photos or video to share please send them in to hello@streetfeast.ie . We have a prize of a meal for two in Homemade by Clodagh’ for the best creative documentation of a Street Feast

A few images below from Reuben Street and Synge Street in Dublin. Photos by Street Feast team member Clare Mulvany.

Feasting on Fade Street kickstarted a weekend of Street Feasts

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:13:55 +0100

Dublin’s newly renovated street, Fade Street, opened on Saturday with a colourful Street Feast at an exciting all-day bicycle festival, ‘Yestival’.

Banquet tables replaced cars, as people thronged to share food and celebrate community under colourful bunting and surrounded by bikes. Food was brought to the table by guests in a pot-luck style feast and pizza & salads generously donated by a selection of Fade Street’s cafes and restaurants.

The Street Feast on Fade Street was the first of many over the weekend. Over 50 communities across Ireland sat down to share lunch with their neighbours on Sunday. Street Feast held it’s 3rd annual day on Sunday 17th June.

New initiatives such as Street Feast and Yestival aim to make streets more people-friendly. Samuel Bishop, co-founder of Street Feast explains “We’re encouraging communities to come together and redefine their streets, parks and public spaces. Street Feasts are really simple events that can inspire community action and change people’s relationship to their neighbours.”

Throughout the afternoon street feasters joined in the Yestival celebrations, including pedal- powered cinema, a slow bike race, a vintage bike exhibition, live music including a set from Luca Bloom.

“I wish every weekend was like this,” said passer-by Eimear McNally, “It makes Dublin come alive and bring people together in new ways.”

“We were delighted to bring Street Feast to Yestival”, said Peter O’Brien, who co-ordinated the bike festival, “Sharing food together is just a simple and effective way to connect people. Today not only did people have a great chance to dine together, they also were a part of this exciting celebration of cycling in the city. It is a real showcase of how we can make our cities healthier and happier places to live.”

www.streetfeast.ie

Contact Samuel Bishop on hello[@]streetfeast.ie or 0862121492 for more info

Bring out the bunting, let the feasting commence

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 22:08:00 +0100

The day will soon be here. We’ve been plotting and planning for months now hoping to spread the street feasting word.

This weekend there will be bunting galore, table spreads, chairs arranged, food shared and importantly neighbours chatting and connecting. Our hope is that strangers will become friends and new links sparked. It is such a simple thing- to share food, to chat, to connect, to commune.

There are lots of feasts happening across the country. To find one near to you, view the map on our website here.

If you are unable to make it to one in your local neighbourhood, some fun Street Feast happenings are also taking place in Dublin City Centre this weekend.

Tomorrow, 16th June, we’ll be dining at 1pm on Fade Street as part of the Yestival Bike Festival. Bring a dish to share and then stick around to check out all things bike and pedal power as a celebration of the best way to get around the city!

Then on Sunday 17th, it is the big day.

Le Cool Magazine will be hosting a big feast in Temple Bar square, as part of the national celebrations. If you are interested in joining them, just drop them an email and tell them what dish you will be bringing. You can find out more about the event here. And you can join their facebook event here.

There will be lost of neighborhood feasts happening across the country, with lots of fun treats in store. In Rialto, for instance, the kids from the local creche will be showcasing some of their art work on the community garden railings and some local musicians will be coming along to play. Meanwhile over in Harold’s Cross the kids will be performing their very own play, written especially for the occasion. Over the canal on Synge Street the Mr. Whippy Sound system will be banging out some juicy vibes and in Lucky Lane in Stoneybatter they’ll be bar-be-quing. The Sitric Picnic in Stoneybatter will also be in full swing. And that is just a small sample… there will lots more feasts in Dublin and also in Galway, Cork, Kilkenny, Mayo and Wicklow.

So whatever the weather, we know there will be fun in store. We just wish we could clone ourselves and get to them all!

Huge shout out to all the Street Feast hosts across the country who are helping to make all this happen- you are all brilliant!

Happy Feasting Everyone!

From Clare, David, Samuel and Sarah- the Street Feast team

Healthy Local Communities

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 10:30:14 +0100

We are passionate about promoting the importance of healthy food in community and highlighting how positive local business can help build healthy communities. What better way to explore that further with a short post from Stephen Flynn of The Happy Pear, the natural food market in Greystones?

By Stephen Flynn of the Happy Pear

Street Feast is a wonderful opportunity and initiative to reconnect communities and celebrate locally produced good food! It’s a brilliant idea and movement that is growing every year.

At the Happy Pear we firmly believe that to have a healthy national or global economy it all starts with having healthy local communities, where people feel connected and well nourished.

We always try to source any produce we can from local sources, we try to encourage other local enterprises and in the restaurant we always try to celebrate what’s in season by cooking with seasonal veggies.

Here is a recipe for our sun dried tomato pesto - very little of the ingredients are local but it does taste delicious! Best of luck with street feast!

Happy Pear sun dried tomato pesto recipe

Makes 3.5 tubs

100g of sun dried tomatoes (soak over night in water - drain before using)
50g of almonds (soak over night in water - drain before using)
300 ml olive oil
50g of basil
20g of peeled garlic
1g cayenne pepper
25ml of balsamic vinegar
6g salt

Blend all till smooth and delicious!

Tasty Street Feast Prizes

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 03:02:00 +0100

Make sure to register your Street Feast!

€100 GoCar voucher for every registration of a Street Feast.

The wonderful team at GoCar want to support and encourage Street Feasts to take place around the country, and to play their part, they are giving away 4x€25 vouchers for their new car-sharing service. (Think ‘Dublin Bikes’ but for cars).

Enter the draw for a wonderful Irish Food Hamper

One of the best things about hosting a Street Feast is the connections that are created within your community. Holding a Street Feast is only the start of getting to know the people around us. We hope you’ll hold many more events in your neighbourhood over the summer and into the future.

To help inspire future gatherings, we’re giving away a hamper to one lucky Street Feast team. To be in the draw, you need to register your feast. We’ll pull one feast out of the hat on Sunday 17th June, and deliver the hamper to your door a few weeks later. You’ll have no choice but to invite the neighbours out again (or into the house) to share the spoils!

Click here to go straight to the registration page.

A meal with Clodagh McKenna - Grab your camera!

After the bunting from your Street Feast has been packed away for yet another year, why not have someone else cook a meal for you to share with a neighbour, friend or partner!

We’re looking for the best creative documentation of a Street Feast - it could be a selection of photos, a short video made on your smartphone or a painting done at the feast; The best submission will win a dinner for two in Clodagh’s Kitchen.

Dublin’s newest restaurant is the cherry on the ‘Arnott’s Department Store’ cake. Two people will be invited to dine on their Italian inspired menu. With celebrity chef and business woman Clodagh McKenna at its helm, the food will no doubt be exquisite!

See ‘Homemade by Clodagh’ for more. Please submit to streetfeast@gmail.com

TeaTime: Science Gallery meets Street Feast

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 00:38:00 +0100

We’d love you to come meet us!

Street Feast is coming to the Science Gallery for some tea and chats.

As part of the Science Gallery’s Hack the City programme, the Street Feast team will be collaborating on a number of events and exciting opportunities.

First off is a series of chats which we will be hosting this weekend and early next week, to which you are all invited.

The events will be designed to support hosts of street feasts to organise, share ideas, and connect with each other. They will take the form of a series of hosted conversations and we hope that each clinic will create time and space to think through the planning of a Street Feast and conjure new creative ideas for how to make them even better.

There will also be a chance to meet previous Street Feast hosts who will each be invited to share their own experience, stories, tips and hints.

We’ll also share a little of the background thinking behind street feast, and why we are doing what we do…

So bring along your questions, concerns, challenges, hopes, ideas, creativity and energy. We’ll bring ours too…

There will be tea too, of which we are big fans!

From the Street Feast team: Clare, David, Samuel & Sarah

Location: Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin 2.

Facebook Event

Times:

Saturday 9^th June: 2-3pm
Monday 11^th June: 1-2pm
Tuesday 12^th June: 6-7.30pm

Public space and Street Feasting...

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:23:20 +0100

Last year we launched Street Feast on Millennium Bridge, across the Liffey. On

the day, the architect of the bridge, Sean Harrington, popped by to see what we were up to. We stuck up a conversation and a few more since, on creative ideas for the use our of public space. Sean kindly sent on some words on that very topic today…

Public Space and Street Feast

As a citizen first and as an architect second, I’m really interested in what exactly is “public space”, what it is for and how does it work best.

So what is it?

Public space is all around us; it’s our streets, squares and parks. It’s even our roads. It’s open space that is owned by us, the citizens, and usually managed by the local authority, in the case of Dublin, Dublin City Council. It’s free to use, we cannot be thrown out of it, except perhaps into jail for breaking the law. We usually use it to get from A to B, and also to see and to be seen in. We can use it to celebrate and party in (like at New Year and St Patrick’s Day), protest and march in. Most importantly, its where we meet people, by accident or arrangement, and get to know our neighbours in a common, neutral location where we are all welcome, comfortable and don’t need permission to be in. We should feel safe there, and it should be clean, well-designed and we should look after and treasure it. It’s where we are citizens, where we participate in and contribute to our community and our society.

Why is it important?

Public Space should have an important role in helping to shape the kind of society we want to live in. I believe that one of the most important responsibilities of us all is to make life better and fairer, for all. In short, by making a better society. This can be by making artistic, social or practical contributions, or the promotion of fairness and opportunity for all. Perhaps primarily, the physical and mental well being of us all is dependent on our full participation in society, on having access to power and the opportunity to help shape decision-making.

For social cohesion and a healthy society, we must all be heard, and valued. We must feel part of the community. Public space, urban civic virtue and citizenship are inextricably linked. The public domain of our towns and cities is both a physical barometer of, and canvas for participation and belonging. Public space should feel like it belongs to all, and not oppressively controlled (even in a passive manner) by vested interests like governments or their agents acting on behalf of the “majority” or the status quo, powerful lobby groups such as private car users or even the insurance industry.

The current austerity crisis has been brought about by the failure of the political and financial elites, to whom we had handed over decision-making in the form of parliamentary democracy and global capitalism. All over the world, new forms of more direct democracy, participation and public expression are developing, often facilitated by social media, and physically focusing on public space as a forum for the expression of ideas. This can happen in Ireland too.

Does it belong to us?

Compared to many other countries, in Ireland we have a poorly developed sense of the communal, and democracy in its widest sense, and by extension, an undeveloped attitude to public space. We frequently consider it to belong to an outside authority, (perhaps an outdated hangover from our occupied past) rather than it being ours to use, cherish and value. To a certain extent we allow others to control and regulate both it and us, through poor design and management that excludes the already marginalised including teenagers, the homeless and the disabled. Fear of insurance claims also inhibits many activities. We also have to cope with a wet and unpredictable climate, which can make using or feeling comfortable in outdoor spaces difficult, compared to our Mediterranean neighbours. Historically, this has sometimes forced public activities indoors into privately owned and controlled public houses, excluding the young and associating social togetherness exclusively with alcohol. This has got to change. There must be active ownership of outdoor public space. The Irish weather can also be dealt with, as we have just done with the giant umbrellas in Temple Bar, or in Turin, where most of the pavements in the city centre are covered by stone arcades.

What makes public space work well?

For over 30 years I have studied and observed what makes a public space work and how people have adapted ‘public space’ for their own and community benefits, both in Dublin and further a field. Of course there are design issues, but central to all success is to engender the feeling that the space really does belong to us all. To democratise it.

So how can we change our attitudes? Well, by just reclaiming it as ours! By actually doing things in it we can change our mind set. By focusing on activities in it, or by “centering”.

Probably the best, most popular and most accessible focus is food, or having a “street feast”. Sitting down, enjoying the fare, the chat, the craic, being there for a reason, after a while loosing the feeling of conspicuousness, then moving on to a feeling of being comfortable in the street, then feeling a sense of pride, of belonging, of ownership – reclaiming what was already yours- reclaiming the street.

A long outdoor table covered in a tablecloth and decorations, with great food and drink, surrounded by your neighbours and friends might not seem revolutionary, but it is. Bring on the Street-Feast!

Find out more about Sean’s architecture practice over on http://www.sha.ie/

Blooming...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 10:33:38 +0100

We had such a lovely time at Bloom in the Phoenix Park. We had literally hundreds of conversations about street feasting, community building, bunting, food and fun. We are hoping that it all leads to lots more Street Feasts on June 17th.

Huge thanks to all our volunteers and supporters who lent a helping hand over the weekend. Thanks to the sunshine too, who made a very welcome visit yesterday…

Two weeks to go! We’re so excited to share this lovely,...

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:03:00 +0100

Two weeks to go!

We’re so excited to share this lovely, simple video inviting you to host a Street Feast in your community. We think it really captures the buzz, tastes, colour and connections that Street Feast is trying to inspire in communities across Ireland. It was shot at our Street Feast launch on the Millenium Bridge over the Liffey in central Dublin last year. Enjoy!

“We’re inviting neighbours all over Ireland to get together on June 17th in their streets, local parks or even front gardens to enjoy each others’ company and some great food. Organise your Street Feast by visiting www.streetfeast.ie”

Many thanks to Mark Duggan, Conor Maloney and Killian Broderick for their great work.

Blooming...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:47:00 +0100

Street Feast is heading off to Bloom in the Phoenix Park this weekend. If you are heading there too, do come and say hello. We are delighted to have a chance to set up a space in the GIY section. Watch out for some festive bunting, a cheery table and some of our friendly volunteers. We’ll be happy to have a chat with you about kicking off a Street Feast in your neighbourhood on June 17th and eager to meet lots more potential Street Feast hosts!

We’ll be Blooming from Friday to Sunday. If you are popping along to the park on Monday however, why not join in GIY’s world record attempt for the most seedlings planted simultaneously in the shortest time. The record stands at 904.. can you make it 1000 or more?

A round up of some of the other Bloom happenings can be found on the GIY site here

And if you can’t pop along to Bloom, have a great Bank Holiday weekend, wherever you are…