Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Our Great and Generous Green Festival

We just showed off Chicago VeganMania in a big way from our table at the Chicago Green Festival. The multitudes that thronged Navy Pier told us loud and clear that Chicago is ready for a world-class celebration of vegan culture, commerce, community and cuisine. We handed out nearly 1,000 postcards promoting the event as well as hundreds of delicious organic vegan, gluten-free cookies that were generously provided to us by the great folks at The Balanced Kitchen. More than two hundred people signed up to get more information and more than thirty signed up to volunteer.

The best part of all, though, was the tremendous love we picked up from the people stopping by. Dozens of people identified themselves as vegans, and many more talked about their desire and path to get there. And everyone, no matter what they liked to eat, got into the concept. Many were very excited, can't-wait-what-can-we-do-to-help folks. And a lot of people told us that they felt that adopting a vegan lifestyle has been or would be the best gift they could give the planet. I wasn't at the table for the whole weekend, but while I was there, I didn't hear a single negative or derisive comment from anyone, and every volunteer I talked to said the same thing, that everyone was positive and pumped about Chicago VeganMania.

Thanks to all our great volunteers and everyone in the core group for making this happen, and a big thank you to everyone who stopped by. This kicked off our season, and we're just getting started. We'll be showing off all over Chicagoland all summer. We'll start posting our appearances at events before we get there so you can know to meet us there.

Come feel the joy that is Chicago VeganMania!

1 comment:

Marla said...

I agree; it was a great weekend. I walked away feeling pretty pumped about VM and excited to work on making it happen.