The Dunedin 350 Spring Food Festival

Get your spring hats on for one of the most vibrant displays of community action Dunedin has ever seen. Coordinated by the Otago Farmers Market and youth climate education crew 350.org.nz, The Spring Food Festival will celebrate local food independence and community resilience in an exciting and entertaining Railway setting on October 24th 2009.

Expecting a 10,000 strong crowd, the event showcases Dunedin’s finest produce and producers. It’s also an opportunity to get your hands dirty and learn some key survival secrets from local gardening legends, sample gourmet local produce, celebrate local success stories, build your own vege-box and plant your way to healthy summer harvest. Experience an exciting lineup of live local music and join thousands of Dunedinites celebrating local food in true festival style!"

The Spring Food Festival will be a celebration of innovative Dunedin sustainability and of all things green and growing.

It will be a dynamic community event bringing together schools, community groups, NGO's and food producers to celebrate the start of the growing season and share knowledge about environmental issues and solutions.

The delicious array of local produce available at the regular Saturday Farmer's market will be interspersed with free community workshops on everything from fruit preserves to home-brewing, composting and edible gardens.

Over 3,000 seedlings will be given out during the festival, and local bands and community dance groups will provide music entertainment.

A local Dunedin filmmaker will also be covering the event for a documentary to be completed later this year. The Festival will coincide with events organised all around the country as part of the 350 campaign.

Dunedin's Spring Food Festival is set to be the biggest 350 event in the country, with the stalls, workshops, entertainment, giveaways and awards. As well as this several churches plan to ring their bells 350 times.

The '350 riders' movement pioneered by Dunedin biker Kashi Leuch is also gaining momentum as cyclists nationwide put the 350 number plate on their bikes – they will feature on October 24th with a 10km ride.

The Spring Food Festival is brought to you by Dunedin's 350 volunteer team. 350 is a global movement raising awareness about the current climate issues our planet is facing, and seeking to involve the in influencing world leaders to make the right decisions at December's Copenhagen convention.

The name '350' refers to the safe upper limit of CO2 in our atmosphere, where we can live sustainably on earth – making this number the goal for all climate change discussions.

The 350 Dunedin team are interested in promoting this message and in building community – they hope to do this by creating an event which is both fun and beneficial for all.

The Festival goes ahead with the support of the DCC, Otago Polytechnic, Farmer's Market, and the University Design Department. The recognition of the ongoing effort and innovation of many local individuals and groups is a key part of the Spring Food Festival, with organisers looking forward to gathering and sharing some of the great sustainability success stories around Dunedin.