Last Saturday night, the fields of Dunedin sang with the sounds of almost 700 people at a music and food event that raised almost $40,000 for community food centres.
The volunteer-run event, which the Township deemed “municipally significant,” featured music by the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie and rock and roll/country band The Sadies.
Before heading to the barn for the show, guests – who paid $45 per ticket to be there – enjoyed the wares of 12 professional chefs from top-notch eateries including Creemore Kitchen, Azzurra Trattoria, The Pottery Restaurant, Café Boulud, Biff’s and Momofuku. Local chef Matt Flett also returned this year, as he has every year since the event started in 2010.
The chefs all volunteered their services to help raise money to grow food for The Stop Community Food Centre, a charity that increases access to healthy foods, as well as for the Collingwood and Stayner food banks. About two-thirds of the funds raised will go to The Stop and one-third to the local food banks.
“Grow for The Stop,” the fundraising collaboration between the charity and the New Farm, is now in its 5th year. Proceeds raised allow The Stop to buy food from the New Farm for its food banks, breakfast and lunch programs, and community kitchens.
The program supports sustainable farming practices, explained The Stop’s Executive Director Rachel Gray, adding that she was “deliriously happy about it.” Grow for The Stop gives the charity access to a reputable product while ensuring a reliable purchaser for the New Farm.
“The concert is a celebration of a great investment of the local population and Torontonians,” said Gray. “It’s an innovative partnership to bring organic local produce to marginalized people in downtown Toronto.”
One hundred volunteers (headed by New Farm owners Gillian Flies and Brent Preston, Sara Hershoff, Miriam Streiman and Tara Gignac) ensured the event ran smoothly.
Flies said the idea came from a need to bring awareness of The Stop, rather than simply asking for donations.
Now that it’s taken off in a big way (tickets to the event sold out in approximately four minutes back in April), she said it will continue be an annual affair.
“We’re already thinking about next year,” said Flies.