THUNDER BAY – Feed the Giant, a sort of pre-party and fundraiser for Wake the Giant aims to promote the same sort of objectives and help push along the Wake the Giant initiatives.
Lead organizer and chef partner at Richmond Station Restaurant, Toronto, Hayden Johnston, has lived in Toronto for 10 or 12 years but says that Thunder Bay will always be his home and he sees Feed the Giant as an opportunity to help.
“Honestly, it's because I love Thunder Bay and I want to see the city continue to grow and grow. For me, feed the giant is an opportunity to bring people together through food and drink and to promote indigenous inclusivity and sort of just to help reduce division in the city. I still consider it home and I want to see it continue to grow and prosper,” said Johnston.
“Feed the Giant is basically just an organic extension of Wake the Giant. When the Wake the Giant team told me of their plans back in 2019 of the original initiative and festival, I knew that I needed to be a part of it and to help out in any way I could.”
Johnston says that while he may not be very good at many things, cooking is something that he knows and does well, so he decided to leverage those skills and combine them with his love of hosting people and along with his local industry connections, be involved with and help push along the Wake the Giant initiative.
“For me, I've always had a passion for Indigenous art and food and culture and I'm fortunate enough to have many Indigenous friends, many of which have agreed to help promote and showcase their talents at Feed the Giant,” he said.
“And I think, you know, any way you can expose people to new things, and Indigenous culture certainly being one of those things, in Thunder Bay is important. I think everybody you know being on this the same page there helps.”
Johnston says that those that are going can expect to just have an awesome time with up to 15 chefs and restaurant tours from the city including Tomlin, Daytona’s, the Bight team, there's going to be lots of food, which is all included in the price of one ticket.
“You're going to eat some of the best canapés and bites and from some of the best food stations from restaurants throughout the city. There's going to be a couple of live performances,”
“Sarah Kay is going to be performing, Nick Sherman is going to be performing. We've got, I think, about 20 huge pieces of Tim Tate's woodland art, and if anybody knows Tim, you know how talented he is and where his work has been shown before, so we're going to do an awesome art exhibit.”
Johnston says that while he doesn't want to give away too much, there's a chance that some of the performers from Saturday’s festival are going to be there.
“That happened back in 2019 as well, so I don't want to spoil all of the secrets but there's a few things that haven't even been released yet that are going to happen as well, so you know, everybody can expect to just have an awesome time and come hungry and come excited,” he said.
Feed the Giant has two main goals with the first being to act as a pre-party for Wake the Giant, back in 2019 many of the bands playing at the festival showed up at FTG as well as city leaders, activists and people who love Thunder Bay and want to see it flourish, says Johnston.
“The second and even more important part is the fundraising aspect. All proceeds of Feed the Giant will go towards helping fund the development and construction of a student living centre (student residence) for Dennis Franklin Crommarty High School,” he said.
“As most people know, high school can be a challenging enough time in a young person's life without having to deal with instability outside of the school environment. DFC students come from all over NWO and should all have a safe, comfortable place to lay their head at night. They should be in an inclusive environment surrounded by their friends and peers. Building a residence for DFC students is an absolute must in my eyes, and I want to help make it happen.”
A limited number of 200 tickets are available for purchase here for those interested in attending Feed the Giant.
