As part of our advocacy efforts, Shorewalkers is collaborating with and supporting various communities and organizations in New York City. One organization we enjoy working with is the Bronx River Alliance. It is a very active and well-established group that brings the communities together while putting a strong focus on protecting, improving and restoring the Bronx River corridor.

On November 4, 2023, the Bronx River Alliance organized their 2nd Annual Community Banquet in Concrete Plant Park to celebrate the Bronx River Foodway and the importance of public edible food forests in NYC. This year they invited NYC based foragers, chefs, cooks, artists, and stewards of the land to share wild tastings and edible offerings from their gardens and edible landscapes.

The free activities included:

• Foodway tours
• Honey extraction
• Canoeing
• Herbalists
• Food tasting (non-dairy golden milk, Caribbean greens, mango leave tea, vegan vegetable rice, and much more)

The Shorewalkers met at 10am at Pelham Pkwy station for our 4 mile walk to Concrete Plant Park. 24 walkers joined us. It was a diverse group and nice mix of Shorewalker regulars and completely new walkers that heard about us thru the Bronx River Alliance post. We shared some interesting facts and figures about the Bronx River Alliance with the walkers and visited several places of interest along the way, like the fish ladder, Bronx River Arts Center, Bronx River House and the new Starlight Park east side walkway and new bridges. It was a fun walk, and the weather was very cooperative.

The Shorewalkers received a warm welcome at the event by Nathan Hunter, the Foodway coordinator of the Bronx River Alliance, and his team. Every Shorewalker enjoyed an interesting and inspiring afternoon with delicious food and great community spirit.

Congratulations Bronx River Alliance on a great event! Hope you will repeat it again next year. We will make sure to be there again 😊. And next time we will bring even more keen walkers!