Meet the Farmer! Bring your bikes!

This past Saturday night, I was lucky enough to be a part of an amazing community event in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego. Though their businesses approach social and environmental issues in very different ways, five unique endeavors came together for one really fun night, each contributing in their own ways and engaging with their community.

The event was centered around the screening of FOOD, Inc., an enlightening, if slightly terrifying, documentary about the American food industry. If ever there was an argument for locally farmed groceries, this is it.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

But here's where the night gets truly unique. The film itself was donated, and introduced, by Holly Jones, owner of the South Park video rental store, Citizen Video. The venue? The wide open-air shop floor of Sky Boyer's Velo Cult bike shop, complete with projector screen over the sidewalk, and a keg of beer flowing for the guests. Co-sponsors included North Park local-food-to-the-extreme community restaurant The Linkery, who offered everyone a discount that night; and Lucila De Alejandro of Suzie's Farm, one of the few, if not only, organic farm in the city of San Diego.

It was an awesome show of support and community-building, and an aknowledgement that we're all working towards making our neighborhoods a better place to be. Here's to a call for more events promoted with: "Meet the Farmer! Bring your bikes! Bring your lawn chairs!"

We're looking forward to profiling each of these awesome San Diego businesses in the coming weeks. If you hear of great community events like this, please send us a tip!

photo: film screening at Velo Cult by Matt Lingo