POSTPONED: The Forage and Sustainable Travel Street Party team up for free Braddon festival

UPDATE: The Sustainable Travel Street Party has been postponed to March next year due to storm conditions. Further details will be announced soon.

Canberra’s favourite street food festival is back, and this time, The Forage is taking to the streets of Braddon with a huge day of food, drinks, fun and sustainability in the centre of town.

The Forage has been running for 10 years now, celebrating the rich culinary offers of Canberra. Organisers had planned an event for 14 October but postponed it due to the referendum. While searching for a replacement date and location, they were approached by the organisers of the Sustainable Travel Street Party, and it was as if the stars had aligned.

“As a street food festival, the street is our home!” Forage founder Belinda Neame told Region.

“It’s a great opportunity, and we’ve never been in Braddon so that’s a really exciting space as well, and we’re directly opposite our supporting partners, Bentspoke. Everything aligned in terms of sustainability and the location, so we’re excited to offer the public something wonderful.”

As well as featuring local food and beverages, this year’s Forage coincides with the sustainable travel street party. This event aims to highlight the importance – and fun! – of sustainable travel in the ACT. Belinda said the themes of sustainable travel have always been really important to The Forage. Over the years, they’ve been trying to get more attendees to take public transport or use active travel to attend their events.

Climate Change Minister Shane Rattenbury said that while he acknowledged that Canberra is a car-centric city, there are more options for people to get around.

“The new sustainable travel street party is all about helping Canberrans find options other than needing to take their car … we want to let people know there are other ways to get around town and to really highlight that in a fun way,” Mr Rattenbury said.

Sustainability not-for-profit SeeChange will be offering trials of e-bikes, and both Neuron and Beam e-scooters will have trial courses. There will also be stalls from Pedal Power, Cycle Canberra and other organisations to increase the active travel in Canberra.

All Transport Canberra bus and light rail services will provide free travel to and from the street party.

The Forage will have over 20 street food stalls, including Superbao, Grillax Filipino, Let’s Do Yum Cha and the Meat Wizard.

“We have quite a few new stallholders and some people returning after a long time away, like Papa Laci’s Langos (fried bread) and 3 Sons Cider,” Belinda said.

“Local ice cream parlour Stripey Sundae will also be there with their bike which has a big freezer on it, so they’ll be roaming the streets, which fits in so well with this event.”

The organisers are promising food stalls from established favourites and exciting newcomers.

Local musicians Lucy Sugerman and Citizen Kay will be performing during the afternoon at the stage outside Bentspoke, and there will also be street basketball and skateboarding activities to keep everyone entertained.

While there’s plenty to choose from at The Forage, hospitality venues around Braddon will remain open as well, and organisers are encouraging festival goers to spill out into the restaurants those businesses as well.

“‘We are proud to be part of an event that promotes not only community and local businesses but also sustainable and active travel choices,” said Belinda.

“It’s going to be a very cool, fun party. Free travel, good food and entertainment—what more could you want for a day in the city?”

The Forage and Sustainable Travel Party will be held on Sunday, 26 November, at Mort and Eloura Street, Braddon.
The Festival will run from 12 to 5 pm. Entry is free. Find out more at the Events Canberra website or The Forage website. Check the Facebook event for updates.