Community Food Share Festival

We’ve just had our first-ever Community Food Share Festival, and the day couldn’t have gone better. The tangible joy throughout the day, as well as the comments and posts afterwards, have been so heartwarming. 

Bunting created by Vicky and the many sewers who joined in over the weeks really created a vibrant space for everyone to enjoy, and we were busy putting it all together from 8am on the day. 

The festival opened at 12pm on Park Road with a bang, courtesy of the True Levellers Community Samba Band, who really got the party started. They were introduced by Dave, who compered for the day.

We had a food serving space filled with a wide variety, a play area with toys and games set up by Angela, and large dining tables where everyone can sit and eat together, enjoying each other’s company. 

Artist, Gherdai Hassell, led the arts gazebo, with children visiting all afternoon to get creative. Everyone contributed a painted fabric piece towards a new community artwork, which will be unveiled later this month. 

We had food from neighbours and local restaurants, and takeaways shared freely. Tasting plates allowed everyone to try loads of different cuisines at once. 

We had cheese and onion pie from Gemma. Maureen and Dave made a Vegan meat and potato pie, as well as Irish soda bread. Yohana brought Eritrean dishes, derho with enjera. Then, Dondu brought Turkish dishes to taste, while Syeda made Bangladeshi pasta. 

Emma and her sister brought a huge variety of African dishes for everyone to try, including plantains, dumplings, chicken, and jollof rice.

Alshafie made a delicious Sudanese fruit salad, Olavakodda and his family brought a Malabari – Kerala Biriyani, Meryl cooked up a pea and ham soup, while Angela made a fresh Asian slaw. Paul made a Texan chilli, while Mel served wood-smoked chicken thighs, and Caroline made a coleslaw to accompany it. Grace brought hotpot, potato and leek soup, French bread and fish pie.

Local take-away, Sunny provided ribs, salt and pepper, spring rolls and fortune cookies, while Sunrise offered samosas and onion bhajis.  

Claire brought some Cranachan, and Victoria made vegan pesto pasta with garlic roasted veg, with some almond shortbread biscuits for the kids. Shelly made very popular Jamaican chicken splits, with the help of the Northern Sole fryer, and Eddie brought a giant hotpot to share. 
For desserts, Lisa baked a lemon drizzle cake, Amanda made fairy cakes, and Jean made some jam and cream scones.

Martim Pochinho, a local musician, played two wonderful sets, and Rebecca even joined him on stage for a song specially created, all about the food festival and living in Wigan West. 

He got everyone dancing and having a great time, from babies to adults and older people – it was so fun. He said himself that it was one of the most memorable gigs of his life. 

The Community Corner Creative Writing group shared their words and poetry, featuring beautiful verses on the theme of community, with some poems written especially for the event as well. We heard from Dave, Gill, Emma, Oliver, and John – you can also read some of their words in the latest Ey Up. 

By Community Corner, there was also our Messages of Hope frame, kindly made by Ben, where people added their positive and inspiring notes throughout the day. 

Next to that, Give it A Grow offered free herb pots (grown at the community garden by Victoria, Ali, Pam, and Clair), giving away dill, caraway, chives, parsley, thyme, and more for people to take home and use in their cooking. 

It was getting pretty warm, so towards the end we shared out ice pops for the kids (and grown-ups to enjoy) 

And then, when it was over, so many people joined in to help tidy up and get the road open for 4pm. Massive thanks to everyone for making it such a success. 

Thanks so much to all the people who organised the festival, Gill, Lisa, Meryl, Vicky, Maureen, Victoria, Jo, and Angela. What a great team! The atmosphere was brilliant all day. 

Thanks to everyone who took the time to cook and serve their food to the community. A big thank you to The Old Courts for lending us their stage. To The Wigan Diggers for providing tables. Thanks to the poets, samba band, Martim, and Emma for capturing the day (really looking forward to seeing the photos). Also, thanks to the local councillors for their support in closing the road. 

And thanks to Down to Earth & The Arts Council for funding the festival.