Oct. 13, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
Foodies and activists will have the chance to come together for a good cause this weekend.
Socrates Sculpture Park is hosting the Queens Food Festival on Saturday to examine issues of food justice in the community and to celebrate healthy eating.
The Food Festival has traditionally been held in conjunction with the annual Bike Parade at the park for the past several years, but this year broke out in to its own event, according to Katie Denny Horowitz, a representative for Socrates Sculpture Park.
“Some might think that it’s a food festival but it is an afternoon dedicated to food advocacy justice and healthy eating,” she said. “It’s a wide range of things, about anything from food workshops to ideas about urban farming to readings in the park surrounding these ideas.”
The festival will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, with performances from local artists, workshops, and, of course, food. The Greenmarket will run throughout the day, highlighted with jazz music from George Braith and his quartet. There will also be a recycled papermaking workshop, pumpkin picking and painting, and a Capoeira martial arts workshop, as well as breakout discussions on food justice in Queens.
The day will be punctuated throughout by art and performances. Socrates will also host a Social Gathering for performance group Friskin’ the Whiskers — a series of street-based social performances that draw upon New York jazz musicians’ rent parties at 4 p.m. One of the Socrates Emerging Artists, Madeline Hollander, will then share her performance piece at 5:15 p.m.
The organizations participating include:
City Harvest
GrowNYC
Queens Action Council (QuAC)
Hellgate Farm
NYC Compost Project at Big Reuse
Queens Kickshaw
Capoeira Nago Queens
The Floating Hospital
Hour Children/LIC CSA
City Growers
Allergic To Salad
Queens Lyceum
Urban Upbound
Queens Dinner Club
Adventureland Fresh Food Box
Smiling Hogshead Ranch
Spice Tree Organics
Beautifully Natural Market
Re(f)use Me: From Found Object to Flower Garden – recycled art activity with The Blue Bus Project
The full schedule of events is:
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. – The Socrates GrowNYC Greenmarket is highlighted with music from George Braith (inventor of the Braithophone!) & his quartet, presented by the Jazz Foundation of America
12 to 2 p.m. – Handmade recycled paper-making activity with The Center for Book Arts
12 p.m. & 2 p.m. – Movements in Color performance- collaborative dance work by choreographer Caitlin Dutton and painter Amanda Millet-Sorsa
1 p.m. & 2:30 p.m. – Capoeira class and demonstrations from Capoeira Nago Queens and healthy treats from Spontaneous Chef Nika!
2 to 3 p.m. – Conversations with QuAC break-out session.
