Photo courtesy Public Art Saint Paul
With the support of Public Art Saint Paul, Jones staged Create: The Community Meal, a half-mile-long luncheon in the middle of Victoria Street in September of 2014. A host of community partners helped to grow, cook, and choreograph the meal that took 400 volunteers to realize. “The Community Meal,” said Christine Podas-Larson, president of Public Art Saint Paul, “is a beacon to the nation about how we behave as a civic body.” Three hundred tables stretching north to south, from University to Minnehaha avenues, came together to form one massive platform around which some two thousand guests gathered. The scene was surprisingly diverse across age, race, ethnicity, and class (negating my preconceptions of Minnesota), yet I was told by my companions that the project had engendered the speckled vista before me and didn’t accurately reflect the neighborhood.
The Community Meal. Photo: Andy King
Learn more about this event and the article from the Walker here!