The annual Harvest Festival in Waterford is back for the 14th year and announcing details of the festival programme with a focus on food sustainability and a celebration of the Irish Apple to the fore for 2023. The festival takes place in the historic streets and squares of Waterford City centre from September 8th to 10th.
The festival is funded by Waterford City & County Council and organised by GIY who are bringing sustainability right to the heart of the festivities with ‘Food Matters’ food sustainability talks where some of the country’s most esteemed food writers, chefs, activists, journalists and business people, it’s guaranteed to be an educational, engaging and entertaining debate each day. In addition, the festival will be run on HVO (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil), with a bio-digester onsite, a complete plastics ban and all traders using compostable materials, refill water stations plus a wash-up station for reusables. Plus there will be opportunities for everyone to get stuck into some GIY as over 2000 free plants and 1000’s of free seeds will be given away to food-growing enthusiasts during the festival weekend.
“We are delighted to share a diverse programme of events for Harvest 2023. The festival is centred on sustainability in every area, from the delivery of the festival to the talks, the traders and indeed to celebrating Irish food, the focal point of which this year is the humble Irish Apple. It will be the theme running through the festival and it is the central theme of the Harvest Festival Dinner menu at GROW HQ too”, so says GIY founder Michael Kelly.
“The Harvest weekend is a very special weekend in Waterford, it is one that closes out our summer festival season and it is certainly a food occasion that is not to be missed for visitors and locals alike.”
Best of Waterford on show
For the food fans, Waterford’s rich food heritage will be key, celebrating the City’s diverse restaurants, eateries and producers. The best of Waterford’s food and drink will be centre stage at the giant Harvest Festival Market which will traverse across Waterford’s wonderful squares and interconnecting streets. I will span from John Robert’s Square into Barronstrand Street on to George’s Street, Gladstone Street and Hanover Street in the Cultural Quarter where a craft market will also be on offer. With a focus on sustainability, the Festival Market includes plenty of top-quality local food producers offering an array of unique traders with plenty of fresh offerings and familiar faces.
On the Taste Waterford Kitchen Stage sponsored by Waterford’s Local Enterprise Office, there will be a host of Waterford’s very own food producers and Chefs who will all be sharing their best recipes and food tips. The stage will be located in the courtyard of Garter Lane Theatre and visitors will enjoy meeting chefs and food producers from all across Waterford with cookery demos on offer each day.
In the Junior GIYer’s zone which will take over O’Connell Street families will enjoy the Wooly Farm where children can learn more about our furry and feathered friends. Artist Aga Krym will create a new living art installation with Slí Waterford based on the UN sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger. In addition Cool Food School and GIY will be hosting workshops on seed sowing, growing and cooking food and Monty Potts will be on hand to help out plus there will be art workshops, Fun Drums and at Waterford City Library there will be story-telling, colouring sessions and more.
Special events
Special events will also be on offer including a restaurant trail, not one but two live music stages programmed by WAMA’s Trevor Darmody and Waterford will also be home to the World Honey Championships where visitors can meet the best honey producers and learn all about the process as they have a chance to meet with the makers, and vote to decide the festivals best tasting honey.
The Waterford Harvest Festival is funded by Waterford City & County Council and is a weekend-long celebration taking place from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th of September and will see the city come to life with markets, special dining events, panel discussions and plenty more.
