Feast Portland Returns Summer 2021

PORTLAND, Ore. – Feast Portland, returns this July and August with playful and thoughtful new outdoor events that will showcase inspiring and diverse talent throughout the Portland restaurant community. Organizers want to bring Portlanders back together for some fun in the sun accompanied by delicious food, and celebrate making it through a tough year and a half. Summer of Feast will also provide much needed support for restaurants, hospitality, and tourism businesses in the area affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. With more intimate and inclusive events, and a new charity partner Feed the Mass, Feast invites guests to come back and experience the unique neighborhoods and organizations that Portland and Oregon have to offer.

Rolling out over the next three months, Feast Portland is keeping it hyper local this year – the new summer lineup is full of small-scale experiences: thoughtfully-selected films, intimate tasting events, and motivating stories from rising stars in the culinary world. Feast your eyes and your taste buds at Feast Flicks, experience a homecoming at Feast Family Reunions, and listen to inspiring stories at Claima Stories: Feast Edition, featuring personal tales from BIPOC leaders in the food and beverage world.

“Feast Portland 2021 represents a step toward a new long-term model,” says Mike Thelin, co-founder of Feast Portland. “We want to use this moment in time to update Feast as a platform to bring attention to the Portland restaurant industry, raise each other up and shine a positive light on our community.”

Feast Portland is also excited to partner with Feed the Mass, a nonprofit food rescue, kitchen and cooking school that feeds hundreds of hot, healthy meals  to those dealing with food insecurity every day. Feed the Mass is a “zero barrier” food site, which means anyone is eligible for a free meal. Feast Portland aims to raise funds at each of the four Feast Family Reunion events at The Redd on Salmon, with fundraising matches from generous sponsors, to support Feed the Mass’ mission.

“In everything we do, Feed the Mass exists to empower people through food,” shares Jacobsen Valentine, chef and founder of Feed the Mass. “Our team works to address food insecurity at all levels by using accessible, diverse and sustainable efforts which bring people together through utilizing education and nutritious ingredients. At our core, the understanding is that food connects us all, and to feed the community, you have to teach people to feed each other.”

Check out the current program for Feast Portland 2021:

Where: The Lot at Zidell Yards

When: July 29-August 1

Tickets on sale: June 28

To kick off the Summer of Feast, we’re teaming up with our friends (and PDX film legends) at the Hollywood Theatre to create an outdoor movie series featuring our favorite food films paired with the dreamiest menus from chefs and restaurants. Each night will feature a delightful food and drink experience inspired by the film–all to be enjoyed from the comfort of your al fresco seating pod, at The Lot at Zidell Yards with views of the Tilikum Crossing and the Willamette River, on a glorious Portland summer evening. Get ready for Feast Flicks: it’s dinner and a movie – Feast style! Tickets go on sale on June 28th at FeastPortland.com.

Where: The Redd on Salmon

When: August 28 & 29 (two events per day)

It’s time to bring our Feast Fam back together! We’ve invited a few of our chef friends to bring their chef crew,  creating the kind of “family reunions” you’ll only find at the Summer of Feast. Forget the potato salad, these four family reunions will feature imaginative themes and tasty creations from up to ten chefs and restaurants, paired with ice cold summer beverage offerings, music and more. Our Feast Fam also includes our 2021 charitable partner, Feed The Mass, and we’ll be raising funds for this incredible organization at the events. We’ll have plenty of picnic tables and plenty of space at Ecotrust’s The Redd on Salmon for 400 lucky guests to spread out and reunite with our Feast Family. And speaking of family, our Sunday afternoon event will be kid-friendly so bring your family to hangout with our family! Ticket, pricing information, and additional details will be available in July.

Where: Oregon Contemporary (formerly Disjecta)

We’re partnering with Claima Stories for a series of live podcast events to hear from the most exciting and thoughtful BIPOC leaders in Portland’s food and beverage community. Hosted by Bimma Williams, one Portland’s rising media stars who worked with talent like Kanye West and Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover) at Nike and Adidas before launching Claima Stories, Claima showcases the inspiring stories of top creative talent of color and the incredible careers they’ve been able to claim. These live podcast, happy hour events will be hosted in the open air courtyard of Oregon Contemporary (formerly Disjecta) with plenty of drinks and snacks to fuel the conversation. Ticket, pricing information, and additional details will be available in July.

Founded in 2012, this year’s newly reimagined Feast Portland celebrates the unique bounty of Oregon through a thoughtfully-selected lineup of small scale experiences, led by the local restaurant and chef community, with a goal of building an ongoing culture of belonging and inclusivity. Feast Portland continues to support efforts to end hunger in our community, by partnering with Feed the Mass for 2021. Feast will raise funds at each of the four Feast Family Reunion events at The Redd on Salmon, with fundraising matches from generous sponsors, to support Feed the Mass’ mission. Feast has donated more than $520,000 to hunger-relief charities since inception. A new direction and a new chapter, Feast Portland 2021 serves the community to help repair and rebuild our beloved city through our love of food and family.

Feed the Mass is a (501c3) non-profit based in Portland, Oregon, with a goal of bringing people together through food and education. We promote awareness, inclusion and the importance of healthy cooking and eating.

Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Feed The Mass has been providing free Chef-driven meals to anyone in need of food, nourishment, care, and community. We are also providing on the job training for volunteers interested in the food industry, and also training them in the art of making nutritious, high-quality dishes for large numbers of people.

By forming strong partnerships with local, BIPOC and small businesses such as farms, restaurants, distributors, and grocery stores, Feed the Mass eliminates unnecessary food waste while serving vulnerable communities with compassion and inclusion. We particularly aim to support BIPOC populations, houseless populations, refugees, sick and quarantined individuals, LGBTQIA+, disabled individuals and those who are unemployed or under served.

Feed the Mass aims to restore dignity to those most in need while bringing about systemic changes with effective strategies that create reliable food resources for our community as a whole.

Claima Stories is a podcast that takes the BIPOC creative community, with a focus on BIPOC youth, behind the scenes of the notoriously guarded creative and sneaker industries, helping them to claim a seat at the table. Co-creators Bimma Williams, BJ Frogozo and Adrian Anaya, bringing their diverse backgrounds in the sneaker industry, marketing and music respectively, joined forces in creating an impactful podcast addressing the alarming disparity of BIPOC youth in the sneaker and creative industries.

Claima Stories has interviewed a variety of creative elite guests such as James Whitner, June Ambrose, MixedbyAli, Melody Ehsani, Jeff Staples, Laci Jordan and more, all sharing intimate details about their lives and careers, and navigating the creative space as a minority. The podcast, which has topped the Apple podcast chart as #1 for careers, boldly addresses the alarming disparity of BIPOC-youth within the creative industry, and provides first hand information from the creative elites for youth to hear.