Mac Loveland, left, owner of Tin Cat Breads, picks out a piece of focaccia bread he created for Saturday’s Gala in the Garden, a fundraiser for The Commons: Center for Food Security and Sustainability.
By JUNO OGLE
Daily Press Staff
Saturday’s Gala in the Garden was a chance not just to raise funds for the mission of The Commons: Center for Food Security and Sustainability, but also to highlight the success of entrepreneurs providing food to the community.
Saturday’s gala was sold out of tickets by the time the event began under drizzly skies, but Commons staff was working to include at least some of those still lining up to get in, Executive Director Iris Nolasco said.
Food vendors set up on the grounds of The Commons, 501 E.13th St., to provide the evening’s eats and treats, including sushi, fry bread, gourmet bread, ice cream, tarts and even a specially brewed beer.
“We chose the theme ‘The Art of Food’ to celebrate our local food entrepreneurs, because we have our commercial kitchen, and we’re all about food and giving food to folks,” Nolasco said.
“The Commons does food insecurity for families in need, but also our mission is to focus on resilience, so I kind of wanted to move this toward the resiliency part,” she said. “It demonstrates what can happen when somebody starts small and works their way up.”
Several of the vendors said they wanted to participate in the gala because they wanted to give back to the community.
Mac Loveland, owner of Tin Cat Breads, said he volunteered with The Commons when he first came to Silver City during the COVID pandemic.
“I was so impressed by the magnitude of how capable this place was and how many mouths they had to feed,” he said. “If this is the least I can do to help contribute to that, because I can’t volunteer as much as I would like to, I’m happy to.”
Loveland offered a polenta and rosemary focaccia bread topped with roasted plums, basil, honey and mascarpone.
“I wanted to focus on local ingredients. One of the great things about New Mexico is that we are a bastion of agriculture, so I’m using local flour from Arizona and New Mexico, local plums from here in Silver City and local cheese from here in Silver City,” he said. “I wanted it to taste like summer.”
Jennifer Rivera, owner of Sweet Eats, offers more than just desserts through her pop-up vendor and catering business. For the gala, she made sushi — California rolls and vegan rolls. Being part of an event that supports local businesses is important to her, Rivera said. It’s also an opportunity to introduce her business to more people.
“I know a lot of people need more vegan food and more gluten-free options, and that’s the thing I want to bring more to this town, along with more flavors like Asian flavors, Thai, Japanese,” she said. “I love to mix it up. I would love to do Italian food.”
Gay Hedges and Cindy Livingston said it was their first time at the gala.
“It’s really cool that they’ve got all these vendors here. I didn’t even know that there were this many vendors in Silver City, so now I’m going to seek these people out,” Hedges said.
They said they enjoyed the fry bread, the focaccia and were looking forward to trying the pizza from The Commons’ wood-fired oven, although the line remained quite long through much of the evening.
Livingston said she enjoyed the plum saison craft beer brewed especially for the gala by Open Space Brewing. The brew used plums and other ingredients sourced locally, owner Matt Leef said.
“It’s very refreshing. It’s got a mild flavor to it, but so refreshing,” Livingston said.
Deborah and Ted Whittemore also said it was their first time at the gala and they enjoyed themselves, despite a bit of drizzle and rain early on that cooled the day’s temperatures.
They said their support for The Commons’ activities brought them out for the event.
“It kind of typifies the Silver City ethic, in my mind,” Ted said.
Nolasco said The Commons’ five monthly food distributions around Grant County provide more than 700 boxes, which, depending on the numbers of people or families sharing a box, could mean 2,800 people or more. The Commons also gives out emergency boxes of food.
The Commons recently completed a new pantry on its grounds that allows people to choose their own foods to take.
“With our new choose-your-own pantry, we’ve seen the numbers decrease from our [monthly distribution] lines. I think that’s actually really positive because that means that people are coming in and choosing items for themselves,” Nolasco said. “We hope that there’s more of a move toward that. I think we’re always going to have the folks who want to do the drive-thru kind of mobile pantry, and that works for some, but for some this is a better option.”
The Commons is also in discussions with the village of Santa Clara to lease or purchase space for another choose-your-own pantry, with the goal of moving the Mining District’s drive-thru pantry from Fort Bayard, she said.
Juno Ogle may be reached at juno@scdaily press.com.
