“We are all full of beans in advance of Ballybunion Bean Festival. This brand new, unique festival focuses on the potential of beans as the most fun and climate friendly food for the future.”
The Ballybunion Bean Festival was born out of Brilliant Ballybunion, a Creative Climate Action Initiative, supported by Creative Ireland. While growing food, nurturing nature, and creating art together, the Brilliant Ballybunion team began to imagine a new future for local food production and community resilience in the face of the climate and biodiversity crises.
According to Project Manager, Grainne Toomey, “We are so happy to have the The Ballybunion Bean Festival taking place at The Barna Way, 19 acres of beautiful wild meadows and woodland on the doorstep of Ballybunion. Lots of the beans and food for the festival have been grown here”. Grainne also stresses the importance of community: “Community is very important to us. There is a great community spirit in Ballybunion. We have worked with a brilliant team of community collaborators over the last few months to generate all the ideas for the festival and it is truly full of beans!”
The future is beans! Beans are an amazing source of protein, perfect for a plant based or a climatarian diet. Beans fix nitrogen in the soil and help local ecosystems to thrive. Beans also provide an opportunity for a new model of food production – from home and community gardens to small and big farmers alike. Growing beans can happen at any scale. The Ballybunion Bean Festival is a blueprint for what is possible – by bringing together local artists, collaborators, chefs, and businesses, it demonstrates how community action can be intentional, meaningful, and fun!!
For the last few months, the community has been growing beans for a feast, which will be followed by a concert with singer songwriter Sailhymn. Sailhymn has been on residency at The Barna Way and has written lots of new songs for the festival.
Lisa Fingleton, the artist with the project says she is very excited about the festival. “I believe very much in the power of creativity and imagination. It can be quite overwhelming to think about all the impacts of climate change. It is really important for communities to create a vision of how we would like the world to be in the future and how we can do this in a way that ensures a just transition for everyone”.
Karen Costello is a community collaborator with Brilliant Ballybunion. “This is first time to grow beans and it has been a eye opening journey. I couldn’t believe how challenging and inspiring it has been to grow my own food”.
Come join this truly slow food feast. This brand new festival will be gas craic, full of beans and other corny puns.
Full programme and more info:
Book Tickets:
www.eventbrite.ie/e/ballybunion-bean-festival-tickets-1472067315969?aff=oddtdtcreator
