AT THE END OF SUMMER, with autumn threatening to bully its
way in, a Labor Day picnic becomes a devotional act to a dying season.
Some might argue it’s the best picnic of the year, given its location
in the growing season and the variety of produce being harvested.
This is the first year the TBA Festival has been able to take
advantage of the long Labor Day Weekend—so to celebrate,
organizers are throwing an enormous picnic. The grounds outside
Washington High School will be transformed into a giant checkered
picnic blanket to welcome anyone who is hungry for both food and
art.
The free event, co-sponsored by Slow Food Portland, has been slowly
growing all summer. Earlier this year, PICA sent out a request for
volunteers to help grow a network of mobile container gardens. Those
volunteers have lovingly tended the donated starts all summer, growing
a bounty of veggies across the city. These container gardens will
converge at the picnic, to be distributed across the grounds, available
for all attendees (who are also encouraged to bring the bounty from
their own gardens). In the center of it all, Mark Doxtader of Tastebud
will be cooking flatbread in his big, mobile, wood-fired oven and
passing it out to supplement the picnic fare.
But a picnic wouldn’t be complete without additional activities.
Pacific Northwest College of Art student and former phys-ed teacher
Wayne Bund will be on hand, hosting cooperative games from the past.
(Remember parachute? He’s got one.) Also on hand is an interactive
exhibit exploring the link between community, friendship, and food with
printmaker Tricia Martin’s The Bread Friend Map.
The picnic will also serve as the launch of Slow Food Portland’s
school lunch reform campaign. Though Slow Food has always been
radical—the movement was started in part as a response to a
McDonald’s opening in Rome—the focus on respecting food and
preserving traditional food culture has sometimes been lost to supper
clubs and celebrity chefs. Part of a larger national campaign, this is
Slow Food’s first foray into aggressive food advocacy, bringing it back
to its radical Italian roots. The TBA picnic is just one of 200 picnics
being held across the country to promote school lunches that are good,
clean, and fair.
If all goes well, everyone will be sated, entertained, and more
aware of the bounty of their community. It’s a perfect start to the
festival, and a wonderful way to bid farewell to summer.