New York, NY – UNSOLD DINNER is a community meal and temporary workshop to be held at the Union Square Pavilion from 6 – 8 PM on September 3rd, 2011. Farmers will contribute good produce that doesn't sell that day at the  Union Square farmer's market, from which everyone will cook a meal using human-powered, community-scale equipment. Members of the public may  offer items and services in exchange for the organizing and material  contributions of farmers, artists, and craftspeople.

Community leaders who come to the event will connect to resources by adding their HAVES and NEEDS for a project to a wall banner, finding their  ‘possibility posse’ to get started. Projects might include the creation  of a community garden, a public performance or installation…
Meanwhile, people will get working: producing decorative crafts for future  agrarian celebrations, canning tomatoes, cutting and frying French fries in lard, grinding corn for tortillas, sewing a tent of reclaimed fabric with a bicycle-powered machine, braiding garlands from fabric scraps,  pressing cider, and bartering. A child-friendly video tent/ covered  wagon will feature an archival agrarian film reel.
UNSOLD DINNER
is being organized and facilitated principally by OurGoods and The  Greenhorns, two emergent networks comprised of diverse stakeholders:  farmers, artists, activists, craftspeople and makers of all kinds.
OurGoods is an online barter network for creative people, connecting  artists, designers, and craftspeople to trade skills, spaces, and  objects. The Greenhorns is a Hudson Valley-based, national non-profit  organization of young farmers connecting this emerging community with  information, land, and each other by means of film, radio, blog,  original resources and live events. Together we form resilient,  community-driven cultural institutions for the 21st century, organizing  peer-to-peer events for pooling resources, sharing ideas, building  sustainable enterprises and eating together.
This event will turn the pavilion into a meeting-house and a marketplace  where acts of bartering meet with acts of scheming and celebration. It  is free and for everyone. No money will change hands. It is instead  about the sharing of effort, sweat, expertise, and extra-time.
Beginning in September 2011, the New York City Department of Parks &  Recreation will convert the majority of the 80-year-old Pavilion in  Union Square Park into a restaurant. The privatization of this public  space has been highly controversial among neighborhood residents.
Friends and sponsors of, and collaborators in, UNSOLD DINNER include OurGoods, The Greenhorns, Greenmarket and GrowNYC, many regional farms and farmers growing the produce in New York’s foodshed,  and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
http://ourgoods.org
www.thegreenhorns.net
www.grownyc.org