Vegan candies available at new Trunk or Treat event
The Original Vegan Festival of Pittsburgh has incorporated healthy eating during our sweetest holidays. This year, it will substitute its popular fall festival with Trunk or Treat as the organization undergoes changes for next year.
Trunk or Treat will take place 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 31 in the parking lot of the Unitarian Universalist Church of South Hills. It is free and open to the public — including for those who do not follow a vegan diet.
“When I did the first [festival] I did not expect it to happen again,” says Amy Cottrill, host of the Original Pittsburgh Vegan Festival, which was started 12 years ago. “This is the first year we are doing it out of trunks. I am expanding, so the festival is taking a break this year. This event will be smaller than next year’s but we didn’t want to skip a year since kids were looking forward to it.”
The Original Pittsburgh Vegan Festival grew out of Ms. Cottrill’s Multi-Culture Fest in the ‘90s. The organization hosts festivals in the spring, summer and fall. The fall festival — held last year the weekend before Halloween — incorporates fall and winter festivities such as vegan face painting, gingerbread competitions and prizes. It also has the only vegan trick or treating event in Pittsburgh.
Previously, the organization would hire 40 vendors to make homemade vegan baked goods from local bakeries, chips and pretzels, temporary tattoos, Halloween stencils, stickers and toys.
“Because we are in between seasons, some people have made haunted gingerbread houses,” says Ms. Cottrill. “Some people make traditional winter gingerbread houses [too]. Last year, someone made a haunted gingerbread outhouse. People get pretty creative.”
For the Trunk or Treating event, parents will greet trick-or-treaters in costume and offer vegan candies and snacks from their trunks. Children must be accompanied by an
adult as they make their way around the parking lot.
“It sounds like it will be interesting,” says Elizabeth Sandreth, a regular festival attendee. “[Amy] does a really job good with planning. I think if she’s skipping this year to expand, that’s great. That will increase the number of people that come and make the experience more enjoyable.”
Ms. Sandreth and her children, Kamari, 11 and Keyuri, 10, enjoy the vegan trick or treat.
“They can be kids and do what all the other kids are doing without having to pick through their candy and decide what they can eat,” she says.
In the past, the festival has drawn a 1-to-2 ratio of non-vegan and vegan visitors, Ms. Cottrill says.
“I have taken non-vegan friends before and they have enjoyed it,” says Ms. Sandreth. “Most of my friends are open minded to eating different foods.”
Some of the treats that will be handed out include homemade cookies, Z-Bars, potato chips, lollipops, licorice and other mainstream and natural brands.
“I like Sour Patch Kids, Skittles, and Oreos,” Kamari says.
While the festival is being postponed to next year, Keyuri hopes for only one thing this year. “I hope Trunk or Treat has great food!”
The details of the event are on the Facebook page, The Original Pittsburgh Vegan Festival under the event, Vegan Trunk or Treat on Halloween (Mt. Lebanon).