Thousands Celebrated at DC VegFest 2011!

On Sat., Sept. 24, 2011, more than 6,000 visitors joined us at DC VegFest 2011, making this event—the largest vegetarian celebration in the nation’s capital— even bigger than last year’s festival!

The excitement started even before the event officially kicked off as hundreds of people lined up hoping to take home one of the 500 free commemorative bags, loaded with free vegan food samples, product coupons and more.

Offering a warm and enthusiastic welcome to festival-goers was NBC4 anchor Wendy Rieger who shared her story about transitioning to a vegetarian diet in 2007. Other dynamic speakers took the stage throughout the day, including Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Wayne Pacelle, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, and Jonathan Balcombe who all signed books to the throngs of people waiting in line after their presentations.

Dr. Michael Greger also shared his latest in human nutrition to a packed audience as well as offered free cholesterol tests at his NutritionFacts.org booth.

With over 75 exhibitors to explore — including 18 food vendors, several of whom sold out before the day ended — 9 speakers plus 2 cooking demonstrations, a fully scheduled children’s area, free food samples from Gardein, Field Roast, Tofurky, Soyummi, and Edward & Sons, and a wildly popular cupcake eating contest hosted by Sticky Fingers Bakery, the day was action-packed from 11am til 6pm.

The goal of this annual celebration is to offer a festive atmosphere to introduce a broad audience to the many benefits of choosing plant-based foods—for our health, the planet, and animals—and to demonstrate just how easy it is to enjoy delicious and nutritious vegan cuisine in and around the nation’s capital.

What are festival-goers saying about how the DC VegFest changed their food choices? We’re soliciting feedback through our online survey and here are just a few of the comments we’ve received:

• “I’ve been trying to cut meat out of my diet, but DC VegFest gave me more reasons as to why I should and introduced me to a few great products to replace meat with.”
• “I was already eating a mostly vegetarian diet and decided to be a full time veggie after this event.”
• “We were vegetarians but have since decided to make our home vegan.”
• “I am already vegan but after this event, my sister now decided to become vegetarian!”

This event also garnered significant attention from various media outlets including the Washington Post, The Hatchet, Brightest Young Things and more.

To see all the photos and media coverage, visit DCVegFest.com.