This past weekend, CCI was proud to take part in the very first Best Fest Ottawa, a new festival celebrating food, local businesses, and community connection.
Created by local foodie Henry Monkhouse (The Best Eats 613 on social media), Best Fest brought together some of Ottawa’s favourite restaurants, chefs, breweries, and food vendors under one roof at the Aberdeen Pavilion.
Like a dinner party with thousands of your closest friends! The goal was to showcase the city’s incredible culinary talent and food landscape in a new way. Festival goers were able to eat their way through some of the best Ottawa eats, meet new people, connect over food, games and excitement for an Ottawa summer. CCI was right there in the action.
Working alongside partners including Executive Chef Nitin of East India Company, the festival created exactly that kind of atmosphere, one that brought people together to kick off the summer and celebrate local talent.
Over 6,000 (!!) people came through the doors across the weekend, and as Best Fest’s first-ever charity partner, CCI had the opportunity to connect with so many community members from across the city, share more about our work, and introduce many attendees to the role settlement agencies play in building strong, welcoming communities.
A small but mighty team of CCI volunteers and staff were part of the action all weekend long, helping welcome guests, check tickets, answer questions, and keep things moving smoothly during some very busy festival hours.
CCI volunteers especially stood out during Saturday evening’s rush. When lines stretched from the pavilion doors halfway toward Bank Street ahead of opening, CCI volunteer Christa calmly welcomed guests, checked tickets, verified IDs, and kept things running smoothly with the same upbeat energy she had brought the night before.
To all our volunteers: thank you for representing CCI so well throughout the weekend!
