Celebrate the tradition
Heritage, done with pride
Honour Maltese bread-making as a living craft, made by hand and drawn from a working wood-fired oven in front of the crowd.
Projects & events · portfolio · Updated September 2026
A two-day street festival that turned the centre of Qormi into a celebration of Maltese bread-making, built and run by a volunteer youth team. I directed the event, from programming and sponsorship to logistics on the day.
In one line
A young volunteer team turned the centre of Qormi into a two-day national celebration of Maltese bread, opened by the President of Malta.
Put Maltese bread at the centre of a modern festival. The ħobża and the wood-fired oven, treated as living heritage rather than a museum piece: something to taste, watch, smell and buy in the open streets.
Celebrate the tradition
Honour Maltese bread-making as a living craft, made by hand and drawn from a working wood-fired oven in front of the crowd.
Give young people a real event
Hand a volunteer youth team genuine ownership of a public event, from raising sponsorship to running logistics on the day.
Reach a wider stage
Frame a local Qormi custom for a national audience, and position it for a European one.
Four dates, one build-up.
| Date | Stage | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 4 September | Forum | A public forum at St James Cavalier, Valletta, on the history and future of Maltese bread. |
| 9 September | Opening | Official opening ceremony and dinner attended by the President of Malta and invited guests. |
| 10 September | Day one | The streets open: bread stalls, an immersive Bread 360 experience, bakery tours, exhibitions and live music. |
| 11 September | Day two | Family day with a kids corner, competitions, tombola, and the vintage bus and trackless train around the town. |
Across the two days, visitors could taste a wide variety of Maltese bread, watch it made by hand and drawn from the oven, take an immersive Bread 360 experience, tour working bakeries, walk a heritage exhibition, ride the vintage bus and trackless train, and buy the festival recipe magazine and merchandise.
Every operational plan was built around a large crowd.
Catering basis
Food was catered on the basis of 4,000 meals and soft drinks on the basis of 5,000 servings, with around 1,000 loaves of Maltese bread bagged for sale and some 300 riders planned on the vintage bus and trackless train.
Planning and catering figures from the festival budget, not an audited headcount.
Beyond the day
The opening drew the President and invited guests. The forum placed the subject in a national cultural venue, and newspaper advertising, a dedicated website, a branded van and a printed recipe magazine carried the name across the islands.
The festival was underpinned by a broad base of institutional and commercial support.
Institutional backing came from the Malta Tourism Authority, the Qormi Local Council, the Ministry of Finance, the MRRA and the St James Cavalier arts centre, with an immersive Bread 360 experience delivered by a creative studio. On the commercial side, more than thirty sponsors contributed, from national banks, a telecoms operator and well-known drinks and food brands to neighbourhood shops and bakeries.
Sponsorship was not a single flat request. Prospects were segmented by size, and each tier was offered a package to match: an entry level for local shops, a mid tier for manufacturing and financial-services firms, and a full contracted package with prominent exposure for sector leaders. Revenue also came from recipe-magazine advertising, on-site promotional space and merchandise.
The event was reviewed in detail afterwards. Both sides are recorded honestly, because the point of a retrospective is the next edition.
What worked
Institutional weight from the President and national bodies gave instant credibility. A segmented, tiered approach mobilised more than thirty sponsors. The product itself, the bread, the oven and the Bread 360 experience, drew crowds and held them. Banners and a branded van did the work of billboards at a fraction of the cost, and a dedicated festival bank account kept the money clean and auditable.
What we learned
Plan earlier: secure permits well in advance, open the volunteer call by mid-July, lock the core team in January. Resource operations properly: two delivery vehicles and drivers, a dedicated sound and light technician, one person coordinating the music. Sharpen the money: working cash registers rather than tokens, a clear price list at every point, and advertising rates set at the right level.
The review went further than a list of fixes. It proposed a governance structure for future editions: a core team of ten, split into an administrative group and an operations group, with clearly defined roles.
Administrative group
Chairperson (representation and negotiation); festival coordinator (agenda, finance, sponsors, purchasing, marketing); two assistant coordinators (minutes, sponsors, HR and bakery relations; public relations, invitations and the opening); and an academic coordinator (the forum and the recipe magazine).
Operations group
Technical coordinator (sound and light); logistics coordinator (stands, stages, banners and space); food coordinator (food, drinks and Maltese bread); entertainment coordinator (music, kids area and presenters); and exhibition coordinator (the Pastoral Centre and other venues).
My role
I directed the festival as its organiser, coordinating a team of more than 100 staff and volunteers across two consecutive editions. I owned the programming, the licensing, the commercial partnerships and the operations on the night, and I wrote the post-event review that turned a first edition into a documented, ready-made playbook for the next one. It is one of the clearest examples of how I work: build the plan, run the team, count the result honestly, and leave a system behind.
Why it still matters
The festival is one of the clearest examples of how I work: build the plan, raise the backing, run the team, count the result honestly (including the first-edition shortfall), and leave a documented playbook behind for the next edition.
It was built and run by the Pastoral and Liturgical Youth Group, a volunteer youth team in Qormi. I directed it as organiser, coordinating a team of more than 100 staff and volunteers.
Two festival days plus an official opening and a public forum, more than thirty sponsors, and a crowd of several thousand across the weekend, with the festival opened by the President of Malta.
I owned the programming, the licensing, the commercial partnerships and the operations on the night, and I wrote the post-event review that turned the first edition into a repeatable playbook.
No. The figures are the planning and catering bases drawn from the festival budget, around 4,000 to 5,000 visitors over two days, not an audited headcount. I show them as what the team prepared for.
It ran across two consecutive editions, and the documented operating model, a core team split into an administrative group and an operations group, was written precisely so it could be staged again.
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