The Forage, Canberra's original street food festival, heads to Belconnen for the first time in its 14-year history in August, while also taking great strides to become a fully compostable event.
The festival relocates to the Emu Bank Inlet in Belconnen on Saturday, August 1, from noon to 7pm.
There will be more than 30 food and beverage vendors, live music, roaming entertainment and the return of the much-loved bonfire, all against the backdrop of Lake Ginninderra.
The foodie fiesta has previously been held in central or southern locations, from the city to Fyshwick to Kingston, but this year lands in Belco, among the pine trees of the lake waterfront, just a short walk from the bustling town centre.
The Forage owner Belinda Neame and husband Tim Bean are proud "Belco people", living in Fraser.
"We've been driving past for many years and I've said to Tim many times, 'I would love to use that spot'," Belinda said.
"So when we were looking for our new location, I thought, 'all right, let's go to Belco'."
The Forage prides itself on changing locations, activating unusual and under-used spots. The move north was confirmed by a social media poll in which the majority of the users wanted to see The Forage in Belconnen.
The Belconnen Arts Centre has got involved and will be showing largescale projections on to its western wall during the festival.
"It's really exciting. It's putting a spotlight on this area, which is what we love to do," Belinda said.
The Forage has also teamed up with Waste Away and Jillamatong Farm in Braidwood to ensure its food scraps and certified compostable packaging don't end up in landfill.
Instead, at the end of the festival, the waste will be trucked to Jillamatong, a regenerative beef farm near Braidwood run by Martin Royds. Over time, the waste will break down to become fertiliser to feed the farm's own pastures.
The Forage owners were advised by Martin Royds and Dan Watters, who helped Capital Brewing to become a carbon neutral brewery and the National Folk Festival to become a compostable event.
Every plate, bowl, cup and piece of cutlery used throughout The Forage will be compostable, with vendors required to source compliant packaging. An expanded volunteer team will also help event-goers to correctly separate waste.
"Ninety per cent should be able to go straight into the compost, but people bring their own things as well, so we have to have that option there as well," Belinda said.
"Waste Away will then remove the waste and take it to Martin out on the farm. He then composts it and it becomes fertiliser for his landscape.
"Essentially, what we would love is for our vendors to then use the beef from the farm to see that full cycle. It'd be amazing to see that happen."
Belinda said with the ACT lacking a commercial composting facility, organisers were creating their own solution to ensure festival waste was returned to the earth, rather than landfill.
"We need to do better," Belinda said. "We can't keep waiting for someone else to solve these problems. This is a huge undertaking for a privately run event, but it's something we feel strongly about. If we want to see change, we need to take responsibility yourselves."
The Forage again this year caps every dish on the menu at $18 and vendors are asked to provide just four dishes each, to again reduce power usage, packaging and waste.
"The $18 cap has become one of the things people know and love about The Forage," Belinda said.
"It gives people the freedom to wander, discover and try multiple vendors rather than spending their whole budget in one place."
When it comes to the food, Belconnen's Le Cheeserie will bring back its viral Parmesan Wheel Cacio e Pepe with fresh pasta from Sal's Pastifico.
There will be everything from Thai street food to smoky corn ribs to hot toddies and sweet waffles. And live fire cooking from Southern Highlands-based Incendia Events.
The Forage will also launch its first official merchandise range at the August event.
