Calling All Rhody Vegans and Vegetarians: Get Your VegFest Tickets Before They Sell Out
The plant-friendly event will feature samples from local breweries and restaurants, as well as a vegan marketplace of artists, makers, food producers and more.
Courtesy of RI VegFest
No small potatoes here: The Ocean State’s only entirely vegan festival (and one of the largest of its kind on the East Coast), RI Veg Fest, returns to the WaterFire Arts Center for a sixth year in a row on Saturday, February 21, and Sunday, February 22. If you’re interested in shopping vegan products, enjoying yummy foods and beverages, and learning more about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle and compassionate living from regional and national nonprofit organizations, then this is the festival for you.
This year’s lineup features more than ninety vegan/vegan-friendly brands from Rhode Island and thirteen other states, including PiANTA Vegan Restaurant (RI), JA Patty (RI), Basil & Bunny (RI), Celebrated (RI), Secret Vegan Kitchen (NY), Elder Sisters Apothecary (NY), Feasty Vegan (NJ), Green Mountain Peanut Butter (VT), Solette Beauty and Personal Care (MA) and the Vegan Potter (CT). The full lineup is available on RI VegFest’s website, with new vendors regularly announced on their Instagram (also be sure to lookout for some fun giveaways while you’re there).
Courtesy of RI VegFest
Co-hosts and Robin Dionne and BJ Mansuetti first introduced RI VegFest to the Little Rhody foodie scene in February 2020 after six years of research. The two love eating plants and believe that if given the right opportunity — like this festival — everyone else will, too.
“It has been incredible to watch this community grow and evolve since our first event in February of 2020,” says Dionne. “This event started as a way to bring Southern New England plant-based food lovers together, and six years later, it has really become a special destination event.”
Last year, attendees from twenty nine-states and as far as eleven different countries flooded the WaterFire Arts Center throughout the weekend long event.
“Providence has always been considered a ‘foodie’ destination, and as a vegan for over twenty-five years, I cannot tell you how much it means to see plant-based dining become a larger contributor to Providence’s acclaimed food scene,” Dionne adds.
Courtesy of RI VegFest
Best of all, the festival is fully compostable, earning it a “Green Events” certification by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. This year, RI VegFest is partnering with local compost processor Epic Renewal to ensure as much waste as possible from the event gets diverted from the landfill and transformed into useable soil. Meanwhile, the event’s vegan bar, Inside Voices, along with all participating food and beverage vendors, have committed to exclusively using fully compostable materials.
RI VegFest has partnered with local compost processor, Bootstrap Compost, to ensure that as much waste as possible gets diverted from the landfill and transformed into usable soil.
“Large-scale food events like ours can generate a disheartening amount of waste,” says Dionne. “After our first year, we became committed to finding ways to reduce waste, and we’re excited to say that our composting efforts have reduced our landfill waste by over 95 percent! Epic Renewal and compost wares producer, World Centric have really helped us make a difference that we’re proud of.”
The two-day celebration also is sponsored by Inside Voices, Epic Renewal, Topo Chico, Narragansett Beer, Providence Tourism Council, Hungry Ghost Press, Unity Farm Sanctuary and Dr. Kumara Sidhartha.
Note that tickets for this popular event are likely to sell out and may not be available at the door. To purchase tickets in advance and to learn more about the festival, visit rivegfest.com.
Courtesy of RI VegFest
