Veg Out This Weekend

Ottawa Life’s Festival City Series is back! We'll provide a unique look at some of your favourite events.
We’ll go beyond the music with artist interviews, volunteer profiles, concert reviews and spotlights on
the tastes, sights and sounds of the festival season. 

Your city! Your festivals!
Like a good sunscreen, Ottawa Life has you covered.

Photos courtesy of Veg Fest

Calling all veggie lovers, or if you think you need more vegetables in your life, Veg Fest June 3rd – and 4th at the RA Centre is here to inspire Ottawa to eat green and live green.

You will find over 80 exhibitors, as well as presentations, and cooking demos which will push you to not only add more vegetables to your diet, but will also guide you to a more sustainable path to live on.

You will also be supporting local businesses because the majority of the exhibitors are home to Ottawa, which you can continue to enjoy long after the festival.

Adorit Boutique from the Byward Market will be showcasing their Canadian sourced and fair-trade clothing made from organic material.

Start bathing green by making your own soaps with Planet Botanix’s essential oils and raw ingredients.

Women can finally start saving money by investing in DontOvaryact’s handmade reusable menstrual pad which are also environmentally friendly.

On your way out, pick up vegan soup to take home to share with you friends and family, courtesy of All About the Soup.

Along with your soup, you will also leave with a greener mentality from Veg Fest’s presentations.

Founder and Director of Colorado Springs Vegan Cooking Academy JL Fields kicks off the presentations at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday teaching Ottawa easy ways to start eating vegan. Following Fields, is body builder and vegan coach Sam Shorkey with her Guide to Being a Vegan Hippie Meathead.

On Sunday at 12:20, famous animal activist Steve Jenkins who founded a farm sanctuary for rescued farm animals will be presenting. Lastly, at 2:10 p.m.  co-founder of Ottawa’s Veg Fest Pamela Tourigny will be sharing her personal experience from starting out as a rural farm kid to becoming vegan.

Making the switch to vegan doesn’t mean you need to say good-bye to chocolate and cheese!

There will be cooking demonstrations all weekend which will teach you how to make vegan brownies, cheese, and much more.

Another plus is Veg Fest is asking for donations for admission and all of the proceeds will be donated to two local causes; the Community Harvest Program of the Ottawa Food Bank, and the National Capital Vegetarian Association.

The Community Harvest Program buys local produce for members of the Ottawa Food Bank. While the National Capital Vegetarian Association is a not- for- profit organization which educates the public of the benefits of plant-based diets, and they are the co-founders of Ottawa’s Veg Fest.

For Veg Fest’s eighth year, their goal is to raise more than the grand total of over 11,500 made last year.

This Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the RA Centre Veg Fest will teach Ottawa how to start living a greener lifestyle, and you will leave ready to make positive changes in your life and in the world.