Portland vegfest highlights sustainable local living
May 13th, 2008
Oh sweet little curly haired girl and her daddy in cool vans at the annual Portland VegFest May 10, 2008.
On Saturday after a leisurely morning, I made my way over to Portland’s annual VegFest–an event dedicated to vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. Also included were animal rights activists, bicycle driven people and a lecture by Mia MacDonald, Executive Director of Brighter Green–a non-profit “action tank that aims to raise awareness and encourage dialogue on and attention to issues that span the environment, animals, and sustainable development both globally and locally.” ::Source: Brighter Green.
Take a closer look at what this single attendee’s plaque says.
A very interesting moment at the event was running into this guy–a 24 year old vegan looking for his vegetarian/vegan sweetheart. “Just ask,” says the Universe and “you shall receive.” This guy was directly asking. Check out the plaque hanging off his neck. It was basically a singles ad. When I asked him how many phone numbers he had received, he was at 2. Hey that might be better than Green Singles online dating.
Lots of yummy tasty treats, all vegetarian, vegan or raw.
Thank-you Emily for inviting me to the show. And thank-you sweet Philip for sharing your photos of the event.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:01 am
Heh’ I need to learn not to smile so awkwardly in photos.
As a secularist, I don’t believe the universe is listening, but people sure listen (and read). I got quite a few compliments on the courage it takes to wear a sign, and on what a great idea is was. There were nay sayers too, of course (although as polite as people are here, nobody said anything directly).
On one hand I would say that everybody should wear signs to make it less strange (and help out us romantically challenged folk), but on the other, then maybe nobody would notice my sign, and the novelty of sign wearing would retreat into the readily ignored message t-shirt territory.
It was definitely a fun event though.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:28 am
Hi Blake, I still believe the Universe is listening. I admire your courage and hope you found your sweetheart that day. It would be interesting to hear a follow up to your story. I invite you to share here. —Cheryl
May 15th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Thanks for coming to our event, Cheryl!
Last week, Mia MacDonald from Brighter Green gave an excellent interview on KINK radio about the connection between food choices and environmental impact. To hear an 8-minute clip, visit http://www.kink.fm/pages/142544.php? and select the podcast called “Portland VegFest 2008.”
Kudos to you and all your readers for taking an interest in the many sustainability issues that affect our world.
Take care,
Emily