Well that was… spectacular!

I thought I knew what a busy day at Dock Cafe looked like… but after last weekend, I can see I knew nothing – NOTHING!  On Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Dock Cafe was the place to be for hundreds and hundreds of visitors to the Titanic Maritime Festival – particularly on Monday, when the heavens opened with a colossal sun shower and about two hundred people simultaneously said to each other “Oh, where’s warm and dry? – well what about that little cafe over there?!”

Each day, despite ordering every scone, cake and bun in existence from Stan the Baker, food supplies started to run a bit low by mid-afternoon (or as you can see ran out completely on Monday!) – but still the customers kept coming, just grateful to find somewhere comfy to rest their legs and grab a cuppa.  Countless hundreds of people saw our collection of Drawing Office artefacts, or took a moment of quiet in the Prayer Garden, or sat down with their families and friends to enjoy a catch-up.  And everyone – everyone – who hadn’t been before was swept away by the concept of the Honesty Box.

Our regulars now know how the Honesty Box works without having to be reminded, and so it was fun to have to explain the whole concept anew to customers – again, and again, and again…

How much is this?  – Whatever you want to give, just pop it in the box by the pillar.  –  What, even the scones?  – Yep, we’re an Honesty Box cafe, no price list , it’s totally up to you.  (Baffled pause)  But how do you survive?  – Very nicely thanks, Belfast people are honest people!  – That’s amazing… is this some sort of religious thing?!

We also had a roaring trade at Elaine’s Belgian Waffle Hut – our most successful pop-up market yet!  (and the waffles were yummy)

The only problem with the whole weekend was that I didn’t even get near any of the boats, activities or markets – there was too much to do!  (So thanks to Wesley for this photo!)

But to all the volunteers, helpers, visitors and Dock crew (including Grace, who you can see here cleaning the tables – it’s slave labour in this place!) – a massive thank you for working together to make an unforgettable weekend.

Looking around the packed, buzzing cafe, it’s hard to believe that all this happens entirely due to the hard work of willing volunteers – the whole team can be immensely proud.