Niagara VegFest continues its growth
Niagara VegFest returns this weekend, and again the grassroots festival is on the grow.
Co-founder and director Laurie Morrison says the seventh annual event, Saturday and Sunday, will see some new attractions, including the expansion to a multiple-day event offering the basic foundation of the event from its beginnings, but also additional features such as culinary and wine offerings.
“I can’t believe the way it has taken off and grown over the years,” says Morrison, who co-founded the event with Keri Cronin. “It is a broader wave not just across North America, but in Europe and Japan — everywhere. People see the connection between what we eat and our health, and what we eat and the planet, and the beings we share this planet with.”
There’s more and more businesses looking at starting up, or existing businesses accommodating the growing customer base looking for vegan or plantbased products, said Morrison.
“It’s pretty incredible the strength of the community here,” she said. “Years ago we had an animal rights group doing a vegan potluck once a month. That’s where the foundation developed — it infused the community with dialogue and knowledge and it’s grown from there.”
The festival, which draws about 5,000 people a year from across southern Ontario, western New York and as far as Thunder Bay and Kingston, features the new dining event, Veg-ilicious, for which local restaurants offer a prix fixe, three-course vegan menu Thursday to Sunday to usher in the festival weekend. Participating restaurants are Fiddler’s Pour House, the Lemon Tree, Mahtay Café and Lounge, oddBird, the Office Tap & Grill, and Rise Above.
“Restaurants have had an interest in doing something special, so this year we thought it would be great leading up to the festival,” says Morrison.
VegFest in the Vineyard, a self-guided wine and food tour through Niagara’s wine country, also returns, taking place Saturday. Passes are $20 and include stops at Pillitteri Estates Winery and the Hare Wine Co. in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Cave Spring Cellars and Flat Rock Cellars in Jordan. Tickets for VegFest in the Vineyard can be purchased at niagaravegfest.com.
“The wineries have been great. They interact with a customer basis that may not see this as something they can otherwise find on a regular weekend,” says Morrison. “People are excited to go on a wine tour and have a food-and-wine pairing to their preferences.”
Saturday’s events will be capped with a screening of the documentary “H.O.P.E.: What You Eat Matters.” The film, which investigates the consequences of western diets, screens at 7 p.m. at FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.
On Sunday, the action returns to Market Square in St. Catharines, with a long list of vendors, world-class speakers, entertainment, family activities and more. Highlights include the attendance of marathon runner and power lifter Dominick Thompson, and Globally Local, makers of a plantbased edition of the Big Mac.
“It is great. Unlike other food festivals, there is something serious we are talking about at its core. We are talking about our health, our own and planet,” says Morrison.
Admission to Niagara VegFest at St. Catharines Market Square is $5, a fee that ensures the financial sustainability of the festival. Children 12 and under are free to attend.
The first 5,000 festivalgoers through the door will receive a $10 food voucher for Fiddler’s Pour House.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to donate to Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold. Visit niagaravegfest.com for more information.