We’re excited to announce two of the four artists who will be performing at the Twin Cities Veg Fest Concert, Alison Scott and In Defence.

Alison Scott is known for her souful sound and amazing vocals. Check out this great video of her song The Trains:

Check out Alison’s website for more music and videos.

In Defence will bring a head banging and mosh pit (circle pit only please!) to the festival. Check out this video for Black Metal Mania:

Check out the In Defence site for more music and videos too.

We’re thrilled to have Alison Scott and In Defence at this year’s festival. Stay tuned to our blog, Facebook page, or Twitter stream for future announcements of more artists.

Compassionate Action for Animals is pleased to announce our Their Lives, Our Voices Scholarship Program! CAA will provide scholarships to five individuals for the Their Lives, Our Voices animal advocacy conference on Sunday, October 27th at the University of Minnesota.

If you are interested in this scholarship opportunity, please write a short (300 words or less) essay on how attending TLOV will help you develop and advance your animal advocacy.

Please note that this scholarship is only open to students or low-income individuals. The application deadline is Friday, October 4th. To apply, please send your essay in an email to scholarships@tlov.org.

Exhibitor Hall

After last year’s festival we got a lot of positive feedback. We were told that we should “have one ever year”. Ok, done. One person said that it was “very informative and educational”. Great, that’s our goal!

But of course, the love wasn’t universal. For example, one person wanted “speakers geared towards more experienced vegans/vegetarians”. But here’s what we wish someone had told us: “I’m already vegan and I came to this event but I didn’t learn anything new.”

If you’re vegan, that’s great! Thank you for making compassionate choices. You’ve already done a great deal to help reduce the number of animals suffering needlessly in factory farms. But when we consider who the festival is for, we have to ask ourselves how we can reduce that suffering even more.

So who is the Twin Cities Veg Fest for? It’s for people who are still eating animal products, of course. If we want to make a further change beyond our own diet, we need to reach out to people who are in the best position to help animals, the people still eating them. The goal of the Twin Cities Veg Fest is to showcase the thriving, warm, fun community of people who care about animals in the region. We also want to provide powerful information on the realities of factory farming and how each individual can help animals simply by moving towards a vegan diet. That is the thinking that drives every decision we make about the festival. We want to make this an event for everyone, but especially for people who aren’t yet vegan.

If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you already know a lot of the information we’ll present at the festival. The speakers’ presentations may seem too basic, the products we present may not be new to you. But for people who are new to these issues, these presentations and products could be just the thing that convinces them to make a change in their lives.

While many vegetarians and vegans heard about the festival from us last year, many of the people who still eat animals heard about this event from a vegetarian or vegan friend. It’s people just like you who made the festival a success last year. If you can come to the event this year with three of your non-veg friends, think of the impact that could have!

While the festival is targeted at the veg-curious, we also have an event for those who are already convinced. This year we’re bringing back our Their Lives, Our Voices animal advocacy conference. This conference will take place on Sunday, October 27, the day after the festival. The conference will feature two tracks of great speakers including nationally recognized leaders in the animal advocacy movement, including Nathan Runkle from Mercy for Animals and Nick Cooney from Farm Sanctuary. We also have a great lineup of locals including speakers from Compassionate Action for Animals, Minnesota Voters for Animal Protection, and experienced organizers from the Sierra Club. If you want to take the next step to help animals, this conference will empower you with the skills and motivation you need to take your advocacy to the next level. Registration is just $20, so please buy your ticket today.

Did you know that in addition to the Twin Cities Veg Fest, we’re also hosting an animal advocacy conference, Their Lives, Our Voices, the day after the festival? On Sunday, October 27, Their Lives, Our Voices will bring together activists and the activism-curious with a great group of knowledgeable and empowering speakers.

The conference will feature two tracks of great speakers including nationally recognized leaders in the animal advocacy movement, including Nathan Runkle from Mercy for Animals and Nick Cooney from Farm Sanctuary. We also have a great lineup of locals including speakers from Compassionate Action for Animals, Minnesota Voters for Animal Protection, and experienced organizers from the Sierra Club, along with many others. See our schedule for more details.

This conference is a great way to learn more about animal issues and how to be an effective activist. If you’ve been looking for a way to help animals then this conference is a great way to get started. Registration is just $20 and we offer a student/low-income discount rate of just $10. Registration includes morning coffee & tea as well as lunch. If you volunteer at the conference attendance is free. So what are you waiting for? Buy your ticket today!

TCVF: What is your role on the Veg Fest team?
Jake: My role is the entertainment coordinator, which is finding musical acts to perform at this year’s Veg Fest.

TCVF: How did you get involved in planning the Veg Fest?
Jake: I was a late bloomer after the original Veg Fest team was formed. After the committee decided they wanted to include a concert, they asked me to be the coordinator for it.

TCVF: What have you enjoyed most so far?
Jake: The thing I have enjoyed the most is finding a lot of great music that I probably would have never stumbled onto on my own.

TCVF: What are you most looking forward to?
Jake: I am most looking forward to seeing both people enjoying bands they have never heard of before and people who came for a band but are then exposed to all of the great exhibitors and food!

TCVF: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Jake: In my free time, I enjoy cooking (less so when it’s beautiful outside), rock climbing, going to shows, and running (less so when it’s cold outside).

TCVF: Who or what species is your favorite animal?
Jake: If I could be another species, it would be a squirrel. I’m not sure if that makes the squirrel my favorite species or not.

TCVF: Do you have a favorite recipe you can share?
Jake: Perfect Cinammon Buns from veganyumyum.com.

TCVF: What’s rockin’ your world this month?
Jake: Random Minneapolis festivals and the Mad City Vegan Fest was rockin’ my (and hopefully everyone’s) world this month!

If you’d like go above and beyond to help make the Twin Cities Veg Fest a success, please consider volunteering at the festival this year. We have all sorts of opportunities for all sorts of people. If you like talking to people, consider being a greeter or staffing one our tables. If you like hard work, you can help with transportation or setup. If you like garbage (hello Oscar) you can be on our maintenance team!

We also have opportunities to help out before the festival with bag stuffing and postering or after the festival with data entry and office cleanup. Whatever your schedule or temperament, we probably have something that will suit you.

Volunteering is a great way to meet fun people and contribute to a great cause. Your work in making the festival a success has a direct impact on animal suffering. When people come to the festival and have a great time they’re much more likely to make a positive step towards a plant-based lifestyle. As we convince people to reduce their consumption of animal products, fewer animals will be bred for a life of suffering. It’s a win for you and for the animals!

Check out our volunteer opportunities page for all the available volunteer slots.

Meet Liz Sias, one of our newest volunteer planners for the Twin Cities Veg Fest. Liz has been a great volunteer with Compassionate Action for Animals so we asked to her take the lead on volunteer coordination for the festival.

TCVF: What is your role on the Veg Fest team?
Liz: I’m the volunteer coordinator, which means it’s my job to recruit people and train them to help with anything and everything that needs to happen in order to make a fun and successful Veg Fest. From postering before the event to staffing booths and everything in between, Veg Fest relies on the great work of volunteers and it wouldn’t be successful without them.

TCVF: How did you get involved in planning the Veg Fest?
Liz: I’ve been volunteering with CAA for about a year, leafletting, helping out at events and planning the 2013 vegan chili cook-off. When offered the opportunity to help plan CAA’s biggest event, I couldn’t turn it down.

TCVF: What have you enjoyed most so far?
Liz: I’ve really enjoyed getting to know other CAA volunteers on the planning committee. Oh, and I got to visit Madison for Mad City Vegan Fest in June to help get the word out about Twin Cities Veg Fest, and that trip was a lot of fun. It’s been fun to see everything come together for this event as time passes.

TCVF: What are you most looking forward to?
Liz: I’m not going to lie, I’m most looking forward to all the free food samples! And, OK, meeting and working with all the amazing volunteers who help make Veg Fest happen.

TCVF: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Liz: I enjoy biking, especially on the Greenway and on the beautiful trails around Minneapolis. I also really like cooking and reading. And, of course, my biggest passion is advocating for animals with groups like CAA 🙂

TCVF:Who or what species is your favorite animal?
Liz: Isn’t this question speciesist? Just kidding. It’s hard to pick just one species. I love orcas (killer whales) because they’re so beautiful and I find their social lives and family groups interesting. I also love wolves. And lions, and all other species of cats. And goats are adorable. I can’t pick just one!

TCVF: Do you have a favorite recipe you can share?
Liz: Swiss Chard Frittata from the Post Punk Kitchen

TCVF: What’s rockin’ your world this month?
Liz: I’m excited that the weather has finally been cooperating, so I’ve been enjoying the outdoors with all sorts of festivals all summer, from Stone Arch Bridge Fest, to Open Streets, Twin Cities Pride and so many more.

If you’d like to help promote the Twin Cities Veg Fest on your own website, here are some great banner images you can use.

Static

tcvegfest-banner-static

Smooth Animation

tcvegfest-banner-smooth

Two Frame Animation

tcvegfest-banner-two-frame

Twin Cities Veg Fest LogoWe’ve just created the Facebook Event for this year’s Twin Cities Veg Fest. You can help promote the festival by liking this event, RSVPing as an attendee, and most importantly, inviting your friends and family to the event. We’ll have delicious free vegan food samples, great speakers, and awesome music. Please help us spread the word about this year’s great event!

We’ve just received our advertising posters and they look great! If you’d like to help us put them up, stay tuned to this blog, Facebook page, or Twitter stream for announcements of our postering parties. If you’d prefer to just come to the office and take some to put up on your own time, that’s great too. For example, why not take one and put it up at your workplace? Email us at info@tcvegfest.com to arrange to pick some up. We also have small flyers you can put out either with a poster or in places where a poster doesn’t work.

twin-cities-veg-fest-2013-poster