Canberra's street food festival is turning 10. And you're invited to the party.

She was running Cherry Seed, a cupcake store out at Gold Creek Village, and many customers would tell her that someone else had told them how delicious the cupcakes were and they had to try them for themselves. It was a real destination cafe.

But that was half the problem. Cash flow was tight, hours were long. When the lease came up for renewal she began thinking about how many other small food-based businesses must be in the same boat.

So she decided to do something about it.

"I said to my husband Tim, 'I want to create an event'," she said.

"I'd been to a few other places and noticed that street food and food trucks were gaining in popularity and the Canberra food scene didn't really have anything like that.

"So I thought why not create this event that essentially becomes an advertising platform for small businesses so they could advertise their product directly to the mouths of Canberra foodies."

So The Forage was born and on June 22 it will celebrate its 10th birthday at the Acton Waterfront.

At the first event, held in the newly built New Acton area, there were 14 vendors. Mr Papa and Sweet Bones Bakery were there. They'll be at the 10th birthday event too.

"Mr Papa is our real OG," says Neame, of Carlos Ramirez-Roldan's Peruvian street food business.

"Sweet Bones were there too, they've always been part of our family."

And that's the best part of it, says Neame: that The Forage community has become like family.

"The community that The Forage has created is probably our biggest achievement," she says.

"It's not only the vendors but the people of Canberra have really supported the event as well over the years.

"To be able to come out the other side of lockdown and Covid and to see that the people of Canberra still have an appetite for the event has really confirmed our place in the city."

Speaking of appetite ... other vendors at the June 22 event include Lolo and Lola and Miss Vans (who've both been there since the early days) as well as Zaab Street Food, Senn Noods and Au Lac Vegan Cuisine, and more to come.

"And BentSpoke have been with us for years, they started around the same time as we did and it's always been a great relationship," says Neame.

Over the years The Forage has been held at New Acton, out in the Dairy Road precinct, even in a hangar at the Canberra Airport.

Neame is excited by the Acton Waterfront location, which will be known as Ngamawari.

"There's still a bit of work to do but that space will be phenomenal once it's completed," she says.

"We're on the site of the former Westside container village which is where Lolo and Lola and Miss Vans got their start so it's kind of nice to come full circle."

She says The Forage team remains committed to small business, acknowledging that many are still doing it tougher than ever.

"Food connects people and that's what The Forage has always been about."