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Before we begin, I must apologize upfront for the quality of some of the pictures from this year's WestFest. It was a busy weekend. Most of the pics were snapped as Jenn and I moved from station to station or during our breaks. This year, we signed up to volunteer at the festival. I took on 3 shifts (1 on Friday and 2 on Saturday), donating a total of 18 hours. She, 2 shifts (both on Saturday), donating a total of 12.
My Volunteer Gear Minus My WestFest T-Shirt
Astoundingly, we met an 80 year old couple who signed up for 5 shifts, volunteering for all three days. I for one didn't have the stamina to put in 30 hours, back-to-back. Kudos to them!
For those who don't know, WestFest is an outdoor street festival that showcases Canadian musical, visual art, dance, spoken word, and performance art talent, mostly local.
2009 was its sixth annual and, since the weather co-operated so well, perhaps its most popular ever.
Popular Street Party
It is also free and open to anyone and everyone to attend. To keep it free, organizers rely on sponsors and volunteers.
Volunteers, mostly people from the surrounding Westboro, Wellington West, and Hintoburg neighbourhoods, spent the majority of their time posted around the WestFest main stage (Richmond and Golden Ave.). There, volunteer coordinator Rory Keenan kept us well organized. He assigned us to shifts at volunteer "central", the audience area (as floaters), the public washroom/water stations, the backstage gates, or the barricades. This year, Rory also assigned volunteers to supplement security staff at the road-side barricades that prevented cars from driving down Richmond.
Why barricades? During WestFest, many businesses setup extended patios that spill onto the street and there are several community stages erected at various intersections.
Road Barricade at Churchill
Extended Patios
Some businesses even stay open well into the night to serve WestFest-goers.
Truffle Treasures at 9:00 pm
Among my assigned tasks, I was posted to several barricades and gates. I was also sent to do various odds and ends, including unloading drums from a performance and liquor in the VIP area behind the main stage. Along with the other Friday volunteers, I also participated in a performance that involved passing around newspaper-wrapped packages with balloons attached to them, all to a classical waltz.
Ballooned Package
More Ballooned Packages
The performance was intended to distribute glow-sticks to the audience before that evening's headliner, Danny Michel, took the stage. It was somewhat successful.
Though our shifts were long and tiring, we enjoyed them. We were even lucky enough to be stationed near the main stage during several of the performances.
Danny Michel from Friday Night
Lynne Hanson from Saturday Night
My favourite had to be Ottawa-grown Danny Michel whose maritime sound was honed at the Manx on Elgin. He even opened his set, saying that he grew up in a local bar, which drew cheers from the crowd. And yes, I was at one of the backstage gates Saturday evening. Not knowing it at the time, I stopped several of Prairie Oyster's crew, asking them for identification to be in the VIP area. Apparently, I even spoke to their red-headed lead singer, Russell deCarle.
All that said, volunteers definitely weren't starved during our long shifts. We were given meal tickets worth $6 at any of the concessions around the main stage area.
Meal Ticket
During my Friday shift, I ate Jamaican Patties from the Carribean Flavors concession.
Carribean Flavors' Signage
Coke and 2 patties
Beef
Chicken
Think freshly made corn pastry surrounding finely ground meat fillings that were carefully seasoned and spiced. Both smacked of all spice and something bright, perhaps tomato...
After the Friday performances, as WestFest was shutting down, I spoke with Andrew Law, whose legendary hot dog stand is usually located at the corner of Bank and Wellington during weekday lunch hours.
Familiar Downtown Sight at Westfest, Sunnydays' Hot Dogs
Accordingly, he spent the last two years in China, running a restaurant with his wife. They have since returned to Ottawa with a 17 month old baby. According to the Apartment613 blog, Faithful locals are grateful he has taken up operating Sunnydays again. To many, he serves one of the best hot dogs in town.
On Saturday, I spent one shift's meal ticket finding out why. I also met Law's wife who was helping out at the stand. Both are wonderful people.
Andrew Law
It's true. He serves one fine hot dog.
One Fine Hot Dog
First off, his are freshly baked rolls, not the tawdry white bread hot dog buns from the local mega-mart. When I was a third grader, I actually discovered that hot dog buns from Loblaws were engineered to resist molding. Try as I could, I couldn't get it to mold for my science project.
Great All-Beef Frank
Secondly, Law's all beef franks give the "snap" as you bite into them that New Yorkers and Chicago-ans celebrate. They are also well seasoned and slightly spiced. Law cooks them up perfectly, letting them take on a smokiness. Yum!
Condiments Galore
Thirdly, I challenge Ottawa to find a hot dog stand that offers more quality or quantity condiments. While I recently found out that the best dog you can purchase from Law is topped with his signature grilled vegetables, I opted for salsa and hot peppers. It was great! I'll try the grilled vegetables next time.
BTW, Sunnydays and Law will be at the Hope Volleyball event in coming weeks.
While I was inhaling my hot dog, Jenn picked up a serving of fries and a Coke with her meal ticket at Friday's Organic.
Friday's Signage
Fries
Yes, this box of fries and a Coke ran $6. While the fries were very freshly fried, crisp, hot, and delicious, I think I got more of a kick out of the wooden forks. Unfortunately, I didn't taste anything different, their being organic and all...
Later on that evening, we spent another meal ticket at the Contemporary Cuisine concession. Contemporary Cuisine is a catering and wholesale food purveyor that was established 20 years ago (1988) by the late Chef Kurt Waldele and Chef John Byway. It is now presided over by Chef Scot Cunningham whom, I'm pretty sure was on the grounds of Westfest. Contemporary Cuisine catered dinners for the artists and crew in the VIP area. During my time backstage, I watched a very industrious person (Michael Tran) ferrying ingredients and equipment to the outdoor kitchen.
At the concessions, Contemporary Cuisine served up the only cold plate. It was also the only vegetarian plate.
Contemporary Cuisine's Signage
Curried Chick Pea Wrap with Tabbouleh and Hummus
While floating in the audience, Jenn and I purchased a plate to share. It was great. The chick peas were just smashed, ensuring a variety of textures inside the fresh tortilla. The wrap carried significant curry and coconut flavours. The tabbouleh was fresh, herbal, bright, and savory. The hummus, perhaps the finest I've yet encountered, was evenly ground, nutty, garlicky, and ever so slightly sour.
Aftermath
We polished off the plate long before we finished our first round.
According to one of the people overseeing the concession, Contemporary Cuisine is currently working out of the basement kitchen of the Ottawa Hostel downtown on Nicholas. They have purchased a location in the Chinatown area (60A Lebreton) and are in the process of renovating the space. However, as per their website, Contemporary Cuisine's packaged salads can be found in many retail spaces in Ottawa, its greater metropolitan area, and Gatineau. This includes the Natural Food Pantry Market (126 York Street), all Herb & Spice stores, Boushey's Fruit Market (348 Elgin Street), Lunch (121 Bank Street), Rainbow Foods (1487 Richmond Road), Café La Brulerie Express (526, boulevard Saint-Joseph), and Sol Aliments Naturels (186, avenue de la Colline).
Speaking of Contemporary Cuisine's salads, a variety was available at the concessions as well.
Salads for sale
Salads
At one stopover at volunteer central, I honestly couldn't get one of my fellow volunteers to tell me how the quinoa shiitake salad was. She simply wouldn't stop shoving spoonfuls of it in her mouth, making yummy noises and pointing me at Rory for my next assignment.
When we arrived home late Saturday night, Jenn and I crashed rather badly. Nevertheless, we feel volunteering at WestFest was a rewarding experience. We contributed to keeping WestFest free and I learned lots.
Unfortunately, one of which is that 2 Ottawa cyclists do not know how to read.
Bicycles Chained to a Barricade
Update: Chef Cunningham hopes to open up Contemporary Cuisine's new storefront (60A Lebreton) in September this fall. He was also personally preparing meals for the artist back stage.
Bookmark with:
My Volunteer Gear Minus My WestFest T-Shirt
Astoundingly, we met an 80 year old couple who signed up for 5 shifts, volunteering for all three days. I for one didn't have the stamina to put in 30 hours, back-to-back. Kudos to them!
For those who don't know, WestFest is an outdoor street festival that showcases Canadian musical, visual art, dance, spoken word, and performance art talent, mostly local.
2009 was its sixth annual and, since the weather co-operated so well, perhaps its most popular ever.
Popular Street Party
It is also free and open to anyone and everyone to attend. To keep it free, organizers rely on sponsors and volunteers.
Volunteers, mostly people from the surrounding Westboro, Wellington West, and Hintoburg neighbourhoods, spent the majority of their time posted around the WestFest main stage (Richmond and Golden Ave.). There, volunteer coordinator Rory Keenan kept us well organized. He assigned us to shifts at volunteer "central", the audience area (as floaters), the public washroom/water stations, the backstage gates, or the barricades. This year, Rory also assigned volunteers to supplement security staff at the road-side barricades that prevented cars from driving down Richmond.
Why barricades? During WestFest, many businesses setup extended patios that spill onto the street and there are several community stages erected at various intersections.
Road Barricade at Churchill
Extended Patios
Some businesses even stay open well into the night to serve WestFest-goers.
Truffle Treasures at 9:00 pm
Among my assigned tasks, I was posted to several barricades and gates. I was also sent to do various odds and ends, including unloading drums from a performance and liquor in the VIP area behind the main stage. Along with the other Friday volunteers, I also participated in a performance that involved passing around newspaper-wrapped packages with balloons attached to them, all to a classical waltz.
Ballooned Package
More Ballooned Packages
The performance was intended to distribute glow-sticks to the audience before that evening's headliner, Danny Michel, took the stage. It was somewhat successful.
Though our shifts were long and tiring, we enjoyed them. We were even lucky enough to be stationed near the main stage during several of the performances.
Danny Michel from Friday Night
Lynne Hanson from Saturday Night
My favourite had to be Ottawa-grown Danny Michel whose maritime sound was honed at the Manx on Elgin. He even opened his set, saying that he grew up in a local bar, which drew cheers from the crowd. And yes, I was at one of the backstage gates Saturday evening. Not knowing it at the time, I stopped several of Prairie Oyster's crew, asking them for identification to be in the VIP area. Apparently, I even spoke to their red-headed lead singer, Russell deCarle.
All that said, volunteers definitely weren't starved during our long shifts. We were given meal tickets worth $6 at any of the concessions around the main stage area.
Meal Ticket
During my Friday shift, I ate Jamaican Patties from the Carribean Flavors concession.
Carribean Flavors' Signage
Coke and 2 patties
Beef
Chicken
Think freshly made corn pastry surrounding finely ground meat fillings that were carefully seasoned and spiced. Both smacked of all spice and something bright, perhaps tomato...
After the Friday performances, as WestFest was shutting down, I spoke with Andrew Law, whose legendary hot dog stand is usually located at the corner of Bank and Wellington during weekday lunch hours.
Familiar Downtown Sight at Westfest, Sunnydays' Hot Dogs
Accordingly, he spent the last two years in China, running a restaurant with his wife. They have since returned to Ottawa with a 17 month old baby. According to the Apartment613 blog, Faithful locals are grateful he has taken up operating Sunnydays again. To many, he serves one of the best hot dogs in town.
On Saturday, I spent one shift's meal ticket finding out why. I also met Law's wife who was helping out at the stand. Both are wonderful people.
Andrew Law
It's true. He serves one fine hot dog.
One Fine Hot Dog
First off, his are freshly baked rolls, not the tawdry white bread hot dog buns from the local mega-mart. When I was a third grader, I actually discovered that hot dog buns from Loblaws were engineered to resist molding. Try as I could, I couldn't get it to mold for my science project.
Great All-Beef Frank
Secondly, Law's all beef franks give the "snap" as you bite into them that New Yorkers and Chicago-ans celebrate. They are also well seasoned and slightly spiced. Law cooks them up perfectly, letting them take on a smokiness. Yum!
Condiments Galore
Thirdly, I challenge Ottawa to find a hot dog stand that offers more quality or quantity condiments. While I recently found out that the best dog you can purchase from Law is topped with his signature grilled vegetables, I opted for salsa and hot peppers. It was great! I'll try the grilled vegetables next time.
BTW, Sunnydays and Law will be at the Hope Volleyball event in coming weeks.
While I was inhaling my hot dog, Jenn picked up a serving of fries and a Coke with her meal ticket at Friday's Organic.
Friday's Signage
Fries
Yes, this box of fries and a Coke ran $6. While the fries were very freshly fried, crisp, hot, and delicious, I think I got more of a kick out of the wooden forks. Unfortunately, I didn't taste anything different, their being organic and all...
Later on that evening, we spent another meal ticket at the Contemporary Cuisine concession. Contemporary Cuisine is a catering and wholesale food purveyor that was established 20 years ago (1988) by the late Chef Kurt Waldele and Chef John Byway. It is now presided over by Chef Scot Cunningham whom, I'm pretty sure was on the grounds of Westfest. Contemporary Cuisine catered dinners for the artists and crew in the VIP area. During my time backstage, I watched a very industrious person (Michael Tran) ferrying ingredients and equipment to the outdoor kitchen.
At the concessions, Contemporary Cuisine served up the only cold plate. It was also the only vegetarian plate.
Contemporary Cuisine's Signage
Curried Chick Pea Wrap with Tabbouleh and Hummus
While floating in the audience, Jenn and I purchased a plate to share. It was great. The chick peas were just smashed, ensuring a variety of textures inside the fresh tortilla. The wrap carried significant curry and coconut flavours. The tabbouleh was fresh, herbal, bright, and savory. The hummus, perhaps the finest I've yet encountered, was evenly ground, nutty, garlicky, and ever so slightly sour.
Aftermath
We polished off the plate long before we finished our first round.
According to one of the people overseeing the concession, Contemporary Cuisine is currently working out of the basement kitchen of the Ottawa Hostel downtown on Nicholas. They have purchased a location in the Chinatown area (60A Lebreton) and are in the process of renovating the space. However, as per their website, Contemporary Cuisine's packaged salads can be found in many retail spaces in Ottawa, its greater metropolitan area, and Gatineau. This includes the Natural Food Pantry Market (126 York Street), all Herb & Spice stores, Boushey's Fruit Market (348 Elgin Street), Lunch (121 Bank Street), Rainbow Foods (1487 Richmond Road), Café La Brulerie Express (526, boulevard Saint-Joseph), and Sol Aliments Naturels (186, avenue de la Colline).
Speaking of Contemporary Cuisine's salads, a variety was available at the concessions as well.
Salads for sale
Salads
At one stopover at volunteer central, I honestly couldn't get one of my fellow volunteers to tell me how the quinoa shiitake salad was. She simply wouldn't stop shoving spoonfuls of it in her mouth, making yummy noises and pointing me at Rory for my next assignment.
When we arrived home late Saturday night, Jenn and I crashed rather badly. Nevertheless, we feel volunteering at WestFest was a rewarding experience. We contributed to keeping WestFest free and I learned lots.
Unfortunately, one of which is that 2 Ottawa cyclists do not know how to read.
Bicycles Chained to a Barricade
Update: Chef Cunningham hopes to open up Contemporary Cuisine's new storefront (60A Lebreton) in September this fall. He was also personally preparing meals for the artist back stage.
Bookmark with:
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