Harvest Feastival 2025

Harvest Feastival 2025: Inspired by food, friends, art and culture!

On September 18, over 750 guests gathered under the bright lights of the big tent at University Commons for the sold-out Harvest Feastival—a flagship UBC campus celebration that kicks off the school year and Homecoming week.

The day was a perfect mix of summer warmth and crisp fall air, providing a cozy ambiance for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to come together and celebrate food, friends, arts, and culture.

To start the evening, Councillor Alec Guerin from the Musqueam First Nation provided a warm welcome to all the guests. Behind the kitchen tent, chefs from Sage Catering were busy preparing the first of six courses for the family-style Harvest feast. 

This year’s menu featured seasonal and local ingredients, with half of the menu being plant-based to showcase UBC’s commitment to climate-friendly food choices. While guests raved about all the dishes, some of the standouts of the night include the UBC Farm Beet & Grapefruit Tiradito (a plant-based ceviche), Char-Siu Pork Belly, and the two desserts: Lemon Curd & Blackberry Beignets and Black Cherry & Dark Chocolate Torte.

Throughout dinner, guests of all ages were surprised with special performances by the UBC Arts Staff Choir (complete with a group sing-a-long to September!) and UBC Opera students.

After dinner, the UBC Thunderbird Marching Band led everyone on a musical march to UBC’s world-class Arts and Culture District for the Feastival Arts Crawl.

Guests were able to wander in and out of venues to enjoy specially-curated programming, which included, the UBC Symphony Orchestra at the Chan Centre, a Celebration of Mehregan with music by the Kereshmeh Ensemble at the Museum of Anthropology, a side-splitting Improv show at Frederic Wood Theatre, the Abbas Akhavan: One Hundred Year exhibit at the Belkin Art Gallery, an art exhibition, Loosely Bound, featuring works by students from UBC’s MFA Visual at AHVA Gallery, and finally the Harvest after party at Koerner’s Pub!

Bringing an event of this scale to life takes incredible coordination, creativity and care. A heartfelt thank you to everyone behind the scenes: the chefs, service team, staff, volunteers, performers, and campus partners, who made Harvest Feastival 2025 a smashing success!

We can’t wait to gather again next year!

Check out photos from the event below (including additional photos in the sliding gallery). 

Photos by: Tandem Photography