Wolfville’s Front Street Oven builds community one pizza at a time
It’s a way to build a greater sense of community and to celebrate cultural diversity through the preparation of food.
Located in the Robie Tufts Nature Park at 122 Front St. in Wolfville, the Front Street Community Oven is a dome style pizza oven that was built as a community project a year ago in May. It’s the second season for the oven, although this year has been slow because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Operations and programming co-ordinator Duncan Ebata said that, after seeing similar ovens, Adam Barnett and a group of others approached the Town of Wolfville about the project. They reached an agreement with the town, got a volunteer architect and engineer involved, secured some provincial funding and raised money in the community.
“We had a carpenter help us out but we actually put this together as a community build,” Ebata said.
The Front Street Community Oven is a not-forprofit organization that has a board of directors. Regular operating expenses include fire wood, insurance and a volunteer co-ordinator. Ebata said having someone to coordinate volunteers is key. They also had two summer staff members this year. Ebata said the hope is to someday make the oven a year-round operation.
They held 35 events during the first season and had big plans for this year, including building an enclosure for the oven site. Ebata said some of the funding partners were committed to providing emergency funding to other causes due to the pandemic, so this has yet to happen.
He said they still need $30,000 to complete the construction, in case there are philanthropists in the community who would like to get involved.
They received some financial support from the town and from a health board wellness fund for programming to make the oven more accessible. Ebata said they also established a fund so there would be money available to open the oven to the community in the case of a severe weather event like a hurricane, for example.
He said many countries have a history of preparing food in public parks, but not so much in Canada, so it was an obvious opportunity. There’s a pattern in community development to create spaces where people gather. Ebata is of Japanese and Italian descent. For him, a part of the project is about recognizing the gifts of other cultures.
“That’s been really cool, to see different cultures use the space and then people embrace that,” Ebata said, pointing out there’s a certain excitement to trying new foods.
Those using the oven must keep COVID-19 protocols in mind. Ebata said they usually rope off the area so people feel comfortable using it and so others realize they have to ask before entering the space.
Open ovens and group bookings are available until the end of October. Ebata said pizza packs can be ordered through their website and picked up at Just Us! Café, or people can bring their own food to prepare. They run a weekly program on Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. where the oven is free to use. Sometimes there is a wait involved if the oven is busy.
Group bookings can be made from noon to 3 p.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. every day except Saturdays. Those booking the space are asked to contribute between $40 and $250, depending on what they can afford.
People can pre-book the oven through the Wolfville Food Bank. Food bank clients are given invitations with a number to call and arrange to pick up a pizza pack. Ebata said they are also offering demos so people can quickly learn how to make pizza dough.
The oven, which was voted Best Community Project in a contest last year, has interior bricks that were donated by a community member for his wife’s 65th birthday. Everyone involved with the project signed a card for her. Ebata said he’s very grateful to hear from older adults in particular who enjoy using the space and feel less isolated because of it.
“I see when I cook with people, especially outside but even in the kitchen, how the anxiety level just drops. You can see it physically and people say it, too,” Ebata said.
For more information or to book an outing, visit www.frontstreetoven.ca.