Come down to Southern Cross Garden Bar this coming Sunday to support the work of the Free Store, and enjoy an afternoon of music, food and fun!

The Free Store Festival is one of the Free Store’s most significant fundraising events of the year to support their work of redistributing $4.6 million worth of quality surplus food into the Wellington city centre.

The Free Store has been operating in the city for nine years, and can be found in the St Peters on Willis carpark. They currently work with more than 60 eateries in Wellington to fight food insecurity for those in need. The Free Store team describe themselves as ‘a community of people from all walks of life who gather around this surplus kai (food) and become friends and family’.

The Free Store Festival really encapsulates that community spirit in its atmosphere, intended to be an event to celebrate the important work of the Free Store and the family built around its people, as much as it is to fundraise to keep it running. Last year’s event raised $20,000 for The Free Store with the backing of a dollar-for-dollar sponsor of the Festival, which was a really significant help as the majority of their other funding comes from various grants.

This year, there is an exciting lineup of musical acts with the Wellington Sea Shanty Society, Casual Healing, Hannah Davenport, Marianne Wren and DJ Home Job all performing across the evening. The Festival will also include the annual pub quiz and raffles, and a Christmas market of local artists and creators.

Garage Project is again supporting the event by creating a custom charity beer, Mishmash, to be sold at Southern Cross during the afternoon, where every sale goes directly to The Free Store. These beers are made using ingredients rescued by Kaibosh, and this year’s creation is the Banana Oat Cream Hazy IPA, which is sure to be a hit.

The Festival will be taking place at Southern Cross Garden Bar this Sunday 26 November from 3pm to 9pm.

There is also a Givealittle page up for the Festival, for people to donate prior to the event.