The first Food Festival has just ended in Zgierz. During the week-long event (March 18 – 24), Zgierz’s restaurants presented completely new dishes or drinks on their menus, prepared according to the slogan: “Oh, sweet hedgehog!” The premiere edition of the festival was aimed not only at getting to know local catering businesses better and promoting their activities, but also at convincing local youth that there are places in Zgierz that are worth visiting.
For the festival, nine restaurants in Zgierz (Pojedli Popili, Bistro Przystanek, Pizzeria Rukola, Kawiarnia Młynek, Pizzeria K-2, PanDa Makaron, Kredo Kaffee, Hejdi Kebab, Restauracja & Hotel Folwark) introduced one dish to their menu for a week, characterized by sweet taste. They didn’t have to be desserts, although they definitely dominated the festival offer. However, sweet pizza appeared, for example.
Where did the idea for the Food Festival in Zgierz come from?
The idea of a similar festival is not new, because events of this type often take place in large cities. However, the gastronomic festival was held in Zgierz for the first time. And it aroused a lot of interest. This is the result of the City’s cooperation with local entrepreneurs from the catering industry, based on the voices of young people. These opinions are known thanks to the research carried out for the “Youth Policy of the City of Zgierz”. The previous assessment of the local gastronomic offer presented by young residents of Zgierz, presented in the research, was not very high. It was mainly accused of monotony. The Food Festival was an action taken in response to these assessments.
– A specific culture of eating and spending time together outdoors has developed among young people. It turns out that the existing solutions are not sufficient in this respect. We have no choice but to respond to the comments of young people and talk to them about the possibilities of meeting these needs – explained Adrian Pal, the Plenipotentiary of the Mayor of Zgierz for Youth. Support from the “Zgierz – modern city after hours” project allowed us to adapt the festival offer of venues to the budget of young customers.
Cooperation with entrepreneurs is the key to change for the better
The first exchange of ideas between the City and the owners of premises regarding the improvement of the gastronomic offer took place at the beginning of February, during a special presentation for businessmen under the slogan: “Shopping and gastronomy in Zgierz in the opinion of young people”. It was then that Adrian Pal introduced restaurateurs for the first time to the results of research on young people’s opinions on the offer of restaurants in Zgierz. Together, it was agreed that the festival would be a good idea to “break the ice” – that is, in fact, to invite young residents of Zgierz to local restaurants and cafes.
Did the idea catch on? It’s hard to say for now. The parties that organized the festival do not rule out further editions of the event, although this time probably outside the framework of the project, which is coming to an end this spring. However, the first step towards reconciling Zgierz’s catering establishments with their young, local clientele has certainly been taken – thanks to the implementation by the City of Zgierz of the project “Zgierz – a modern city after hours” co-financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 and the EEA Financial Mechanism 2021 -2024 under the Local Development Program.
