• vegan worldfest 2010: it was epic

    78
    May 16th, 2010quarrygirlvegan events

    worldfest this year was fucking epic. were you there? ARE you there? i mean, it’s going on until 7pm, so if you read this post in time, seriously get over there.

    i just got home, and i must say it was an incredible day of drinking and eating. many hours were spent in the beer garden sipping on bottle after bottle of lagunitas ipa and czech style pilsner. after several helpings of beer and several sets of loud ska music (the drinking area is located right next to the main stage), we decided to make the rounds and eat as much as we possibly could before heading home. the highlights of the day were as follows:

    NEW PRODUCTS from luscious organic desserts! seriously, i thought these guys couldn’t get any better when they came out with frozen vegan cookie dough, but this new stuff is even better than that.

    today, they had peanut butter crunch bars on hand (these tasted like delicious pb and chocolate coated rice krispies treats)…

    as well as cookie dough bon bons (chocolate covered dough balls) in both normal chocolate flavor…

    cookie dough bon bon by luscious organics

    and white chocolate flavor…

    white chocolate cookie dough bon bon

    the chocolate dough balls were fucking insane, and some of the best desserts i’ve had in a long time. i really can’t wait to order more.

    as far as entrees were concerned we hit up follow your heart for some tempeh tacos.

    tempeh tacos. $8

    the tacos were absolutely delicious, and came with a huge side of rice and beans. for only 8 bucks at an overpriced festival, i really can’t complain.

    we also got a portion of indian food from amma’s kitchen…

    curry plate. $6

    the curry plate came with chapati, dal, and vegetables, all of which were quite tasty. my only complaint was that is was full of bell peppers, which i hate.

    lastly, our friend grabbed a plate of fried food from an unfamiliar vegan bbq place called “southern fried vegan.”

    they had everything from fried gardein sandwiches, to bbq burgers, to nuggets and quesadillas. our buddy went with the fried shrimp and fries plate…

    fried shrimp and fries. $8

    i took a bite of this, and while it was pretty good, it was really small for $8. plus the fries were a little soggy. i guess a vegan dish called “fried shrimp and fries” really could go either way.

    for dessert we hit up maggie mudd (our favorite booth from last year), and tried a tarmac shake…

    maggie mudd tarmac shake. $6

    this thing was so dense and rich, it was ridiculous. i really wish maggie mudd would open up in LA, because their treats are unbelievable.

    before we left, we stopped by the vegan collection booth to grab one of their awesome new “veganize LA” shirts. how cool are these? and only $18. not just that, but 25% of the profits went to the charity of my choice. (i chose ARME!)

    on a negative note, i received a few comments on my blog and tweets throughout the day letting me know that the funnel cake stand at worldfest was selling NON-VEGAN whipped cream. apparently they were telling customers that “the 2% sodium caseinate qualifies as non-dairy for food service.” WHAT?! total bullshit, right?!?! i notified worldfest, and within 5 minutes they were on it. they sent the vegan police to shut that shit down and make sure that the dairy was no longer being sold to customers.

    damn straight

    all in all, worldfest this year was awesome. i didn’t really stick around for any of the speakers (who i’m sure were great), but the food and beer made it all worth it. i did feel like i was being fleeced a bit ($5 for parking, $7 to get in, high prices for food, and a donation jar at the door…WTF?), but at the end of the day i had a very good time.

    if you are vegan, and you live in LA, worldfest is a MUST. don’t miss it next year.

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76 responses to “vegan worldfest 2010: it was epic” RSS icon

  • Yeah, I saw the donations jar on the way out…. Worldfest is FOR PROFIT, people make money as a result. It’s akin to a music festival like coachella having a donation jar.

    Oh, and the funnel cake guy was an asshole.

  • I was disappointed that there were no corn dogs, but I asked a worldfest employee, and she said that they found out that last year’s corn dogs were not vegan… Now I am thankful I missed them. The food this year was awesome! Thank you, a Taste of Life, for all-day breakfast sandwiches. šŸ™‚

  • That ice-cream shake looks marvelous.

  • I had that Tarmac shake as well …I WAAASSS gonna get a funnelcake, but after Asshole McGee told me to stop whining about the 2% casein, I told him to shove that cake up his funnel and went elsewhere for my sweet tooth needs. Glad I did. Nice that Maggiemudd came down from SF – but what a tease! Open up HERE!

    Finally got to eat Taste of Life’s breakfast sammich…awesome…got a 2nd one to go. Also got a dosa from Amma’s (I LOVE DOSA!) and some treats to go from Cest La V.

    I’m a happy fat fuck right now. šŸ™‚

  • I had a strawberry funnel cake with no whip and it was good except the strawberries were frozen. For some reason I thought that the fruit was going to be warm…oh well….we still devoured the whole thing in under a few minutes. The raw pizza was really good and all the ice cream samples were awesome! Sad that I didn’t save any room for Maggie Mud, but did get my fill of all the ice cream samples!!! YUm!

  • I’m glad you liked it, I was very disappointed. I waited in line at Southern Fried Vegan for over an hour and while the Chicken Nuggets were tasty, there was so much oil (and I love oil) but they were literally soaked in oil, it got on my shirt and pants as it dripped, and the italian sausage was cold in the middle and mushy on the outside. šŸ™ I wish I tried Maggie Mudd, but after waiting an hour in line for lower than mediocre food, I was ready to go home.

  • today was beyond awesome on so many levels! omg that shake… all that beer… i had to take a 3 hour nap when i got home.

  • I finally got to try one of the breakfast sandwiches, so that was good. But what was up with no water in the whole festival??? Apparently, there was a water booth dispensing filtered water, but when we stopped by the electricity was out and they had no water, and, since all the other booths were told they couldn’t sell water (since the water booth was there), it wasn’t until capitalism kicked in that we were able to buy a cup of tap water from the lemonade stand for $1. I understand the whole plastic bottle waste thing, but, really? An outdoor festival with one sometimes-functional water booth?

  • The healthy hut tent was awesome and packed! So great to see that in juxtaposition to the HUGE wonk’n line at the Fried Vegan BBQ stand. We couldn’t pass up a guilty festival splurge and split Luscious Organic’s PB Crisp bar three ways. Beyond amazing!

  • Soggy fried food comes from the oil not being hot enough. I saw the fries and I knew immediately not to get them… they seriously looked limp and sad. I think they just had a guy making the food behind the booth with crappy consumer-grade equipment that just wasn’t up to par; counter-top deep fryers are notorious for not getting hot enough.

    We had a steak sandwich, Jamaican chicken wrap, beef stew with rice, an EPIC banana split sundae, and tons of free samples. Oh — and a peach cobbler to go.

  • Fleeced, really? I’m sorry but $7 for a whole day festival is a total steal in LA and $5 for parking? Have you been to Beverly Hills lately? I mean, even in Hollywood or downtown you’d be stoked to find an all day $5 parking deal. Get real on that people. Also, if you go to WorldFest’s website it is a nonprofit organization, a 501(c)3, so whoever said it’s for profit and like coachella is a doofus. All that said, I disagree on Taste of Life. I was disappointed that I ate there with all the great food abounding. However, Follow Your Heart and Bodhi Tree food: Yum! Luscious cupcakes were amazing. Love, love, love Lagunitas beer. And you shoulda’ stayed around for John Salley’s talk: funny, accessible, wise, and cool all in one.

  • wow, $5 for parking where you basically go to eat? RAPE.

  • LA is lucky to have so many great vegan vendors. It sounds like it was a fun day of eating. I would have loved to try the white chocolate cookie dough bon bon and the tarmac shake! I’ve never had anything like that before. I really hope one of my travel dates corresponds with a vegan festival. I keep missing them šŸ™

  • Fleeced? Over-priced? Really? What did you spend at the last movie you went to? The last best-seller you bought? Did they carry a message of compassion to all beings? Your comments are ignorant, unfair and not very supportive of the cause. The producers and organizers of Worldfest bust their asses to create an event that has integrity. It is run almost entirely on volunteer power ā€“ people with ā€œrealā€ jobs spending countless hours of their own time to put on the event. And you are whining about $12? Why donā€™t you put your mouth where your money is and next year do something to help the event like solicit sponsors or actually volunteer and do something to give back!

  • @SoyCatty: I seriously can’t see where all that money goes. The parking and door, along with the huge fees that booths pay to be there, as well as massively overpriced beer and expensive food mean to me that somebody is making bank on all this.

    I went with two friends: We’d paid $26 just to get in, another $30 on two beers each and $9 each for three (small, badly prepared) meals.

    So, a couple of hours out for three people cost nearly $90. I’m not even including other stuff I bought (including an $18 teeshirt from vegan collection – total rip-off).

    Oh, I also have to pay $15 to get my car cleaned as the “parking lot” was a dust bowl.

    World Fest is clearly a very well heeled organization. I bet there are a lot of people laughing all the way to the bank to deposit their dusty takings.

  • So Worldfest charges to get in, they charge booths to set up, they charge for parking, and they don’t pay the speakers.

    Hmmmm wonder who is counting their money right now.

  • Let me get this straight. You have to pay to get in, then pay “festival prices” (as you put it) for beer and food? $5 for a bottle seems steep.

    You got played.

  • It saddens me to see so much negativity regarding what I thought was one of the best days of my life! If you thought the $18 t-shirt was a rip-off, why did you buy it? I see nothing wrong with pure-hearted, compassionate and creative people making a profit from their products that help to educate, feed, and inspire others.

    I LOVED the entire day. Meeting Tal Ronnen was the highlight, but I also loved John Salley’s talk. My falafel wrap and tabouleh from Follow Your Heart was delicious. I felt so fortunate to be surrounded by so many positive, kind people. It reminded me that I’m not alone in the world and that other people do care very strongly about animals and the environment. And my dog met his first goat! (and he didn’t eat him…thank god, because that would’ve been embarrassing).

  • I had the best day ever. What about the Jolly Llamas! Those were AMAZING!!

  • I admit i saw a long line at the “country fried vegan” stand and just stood at the end of it. I thought this MUST be the place, but after a wait that seemed like an hour i got the BBQ Burger that was really just a boca burger in a little bit of bbq sauce on a plain white bun. I was disappointed but whatev’ i didn’t let it bother me.

    The tempeh tacos from FYH were really good, and it was fun watch people peddle-power their own smoothie. The Jamaican stand was really good with their jerk gardein. The other stand serving nachos and tacos near Bodhi Tree was also not great. TVP and vegetables over smart & final tortilla chips?

    Lagunitas always does a good job, though. Love that they sell beer here; was hoping they would bring a seasonal beer like Wilco Tango Foxtrot or their new Undercover Shutdown Ale. I think this crowed could get behind it.

  • I am not sure how all the money is sorted out, but a lot of expense goes into something like this. Even renting things like the bathrooms, tents and the park itself costs quite a bit of money. $5 for parking isn’t so bad especially if you carpool. $7 for entrance is reasonable. As for festival prices? Some of the food seemed expensive to me, depending on what you ordered. The Jamaican food was $15 and while it was tasty, I thought it was expensive. $8 for the FYH tacos seemed like a better deal because it was delicious and really enough food to hold me for the rest of the festival if i let it. $8 for some of the other things i saw and tried was just not worth what i got.

    $5 for beer is reasonable and not festival prices at all. Considering Lagunitas is a legit craft brewery, one of my favorites and a pint at any craft pub is also about $5 anyway so it’s not outrageous. Look at how much beer costs at the L.A. County fair for budlight, or how much you spend at Coachella for a 10oz cup of Heineken.

  • The parking lot dust bowl comment cracked me up. My white car is always a dirt rust color when I leave.

    I enjoyed it a lot & know it takes a lot of hard work to put something like that on & I really appreciate it. I just wish it could somehow be guaranteed that everything is vegan. I know the organizers have them sign contracts, etc. but the idiots seem to somehow slip thru. I wonder if the funnel cakes were even vegan? They were cranky assholes.

    Then there was the other booth handing out non-vegan food bars & dead chicken dog & cat food. People tease me for always checking ingredients but it pays off. I was also very happy with how quickly they had the vegan police shut them down. It’s great to know the organizers were on top of it & how much they really care.

    I’m looking forward to next year for more awesome food and products.

  • We had fun, but I’m totally bummed I didn’t eat enough!!! So many things you listed here sound SO amazing, dammit!!! We got a couple of desserts from C’est La V which were awesome but I am wishing I tried some of the other desserty stuff. They need to have a part 2 tomorrow so I can go stuff my face some more.
    We actually saw a guy walking around with a KFC soda cup as we were leaving, at first I thought he just wandered in and didn’t know where he was, but he would’ve had to pay the $7 to get in so I guess he was just really clueless. We had to laugh.
    $5 for parking is way too much, not to mention having to park in the Dust Bowl. I didn’t think $7 was too much to get in, and I felt like it was supporting a cool event, but I just wish I couldn’t stayed a little longer and done/seen more things to get my money’s worth.

  • The only reason we think that $18 for a t-shirt is a rip-off is because our economy is based on importing Chinese slave labor. We don’t pay what things should cost, for anything. That includes food.

  • Many said it well above. Someone is making big bucks on this event. Walter from Town & Country, a vegan, gives Worldfest the booths, tables, tents, stage, etc. at his cost which saves them big money. The amount they charge vendors for booths brings in quite a nice profit. Park rental, insurance, and other administrative costs should easily be covered by the number of people paying entrance and parking. Someone really is making big bucks on this event. A lot of the beer and wine is donated and they sure mark that up to make some nice money. They claim to be a nonprofit but have refused to show their nonprofit books to any of us who’ve asked. Their books are supposed to be publicly available on demand. I love all the vegan people and all the vegan food at this event but someone is dishonestly making money on all of us.

  • I’m up late sick because of something I ate at Worldfest today. It was not the Maggie Mudd’s or Follow Your Heart I’m sure. I’ve had those many times before and trust them. Either the fried shrimp had casein or the Indian food had ghee. I know how my body reacts to dairy. One of them lied about the ingredients and wasn’t really vegan. There was a nice selection of vegan food at this event but I sadly picked the wrong food. Anyone remember about six years ago when there were many more aisles of many more vegan food stands? And the event was free back then!

  • I’ve never heard so much complaining about $5 parking and $7 admission. As someone who goes to multiple non-profit comic conventions every year, that’s a STEAL. Try $20 parking, $30-per-day admission, and food that I assure you is more expensive (and way crappier) than the food at World Fest.

  • Ripoff

  • I’m going to contact them officially and ask for details of their accounts. Remember, a not for profit doesn’t exist to give returns to shareholders, but it can certainly pay its executives and board members handsomely. I bet there are a handful of people who control the event living a decent life off the proceeds.

    I will try and find out.

  • If I choose to spend the money that’s up to me and if you choose to spend the money that’s up to you but this has to be paying someone a serious salary. If this is supposed to be a festival for us vegans then we can choose to spend the money or not. I spent the money and was glad to see a lot of vegan friends. But if this is supposed to be an event of bringing in people who aren’t vegan then it is not doing a good job cause most outsiders won’t spend that kind of money.

  • And where was Go Vegan Radio’s Bob Lindin who started this event as outreach? He’s not even aloud to be part of it anymore cause they people who took it over don’t have the same mission. It used to be free and more people who passed by and happened in were not vegan. It had more of a mission than but now its just a party for us and someone’s making money off of us. I enjoyed it but what’s the purpose? I talked to hundreds of people and they were all already vegan. There are so many vegans now its great but we need to reach the outsiders.

  • I’ve just done a back of the envelope calculation, and I can tell you that somebody is making some serious bucks of this thing. The attendance, booth fees etc. are all at festival prices, and those events are notoriously profitable.

    I don’t really care about that – I’m a capitalist myself. Why DOES bother me is the donations jar on the way out. That money is going straight into somebody’s pocket: don’t be fooled vegans!!

  • I spent a couple hours in the beer garden. I was in the VIP section….Straw Pork Pie Hat, green plaidish shirt and Converse shoes….6’4″…drinking IPA’s

  • A lot of good questions asked here about cost and profit. CONCERNING!
    Music was too loud to talk to sales people and have other conversations. Is this a vegan festival with music or a music festival with vegan food? It seemed more of a music event than a vegan event. DISAPPOINTING!!!!!!!!!!

    —–

  • Does the typical vegan have to make EVERYTHING into a cause/protest/conspiracy? Rah! Rah! Rah! What a downer.

  • Wow, such whiners!! If you want to see ANY 501c3 nonprofit’s paperwork, just go to guidestar.com and their IRS filings are on there. Greg is right on, you freaking vegans are never freaking happy. Sometimes I’m embarrassed to be associated with you.

  • I’ll just say the first year maybe even the second year of worldfest (in L.A.) that parking and entrance were free. It attracted a very large crowd. And I do remember some pretty intense animal rights speakers. I also remember Oreans Health Express having a booth there and only selling slushies.

  • EXCUSE ME… check out the twitter stream from

    http://twitter.com/worldfestevents

    They are bitching and being passive-agressive (presumably abut this comment thread)

  • I think this was a fabulous event. If parking was too much expense, you could have caught the metro. I did it from Vermont/Santa Monica. $5 for an all day ticket and I contributed considerably less pollution to LA’s already disgusting air. It is also a rather fitting gesture to make in regards to an eco styled festival.

    As far as the entry price goes, I am happy for someone to make money from an event like this. If a group of people are dedicated enough to get an event of this size and nature off the ground I think they should be rewarded. Calling in organiser’s integrity seems petty and unnecessary. I’m not sure if anyone personally profited from this but I don’t begrudge them for it if they did.

    The food I enjoyed was delightful. I had a fried Gardein sandwich, the Taste of Life breakfast sandwich, ice cream, shortbread and more. And it was awesome seeing The Red Paintings live.

  • Just to set the record straight for all of you complaining about the fees, and assuming the people who run this event are living it up in their Bel Air mansions – you’re way off base. All of the people who run the event WORK FOR FREE! The event costs somewhere north of $125,000 to put on (yes, count the zeros). Despite what you may think, they have to pay handsomely for the park rental, permits, fire marshall, security staff, fencing, stage & sound equipment, etc… And I’m pretty sure some of the headlining bands are paid.

    So, how to they pay for that $125,000? First, parking is FREE before 10:30am, so if you think it’s outrageous to pay $5, then show up early! Now, let’s assume 5000 people show up and pay $7 each (not including kids under 12, who get in free, or seniors who pay a discounted rate, or all the volunteers who work a few hours and then stay free for the rest of the day). That’s only $35,000. Let’s be generous and say 10,000 people came – that’s still only $70,000. How do they make up the $55,000 difference? Ok, so maybe some parking fees go towards it, and they sell a few booths at a cheap rate. Most of the booths pay the “non-profit” rate, at a measly $130 for a 10×10 booth. So if there were 200 vendors there, let’s say they grossed $26,000 for that – maybe a bit more for the “for-profit” vendors and food booths (though a portion of the food booth prices includes a city health permit,m which isn’t cheap).

    So after parking fees and booths, we still have a deficit of maybe $15,000 (rough estimate). So can you really blame them for asking for donations, so that they can help cover any other costs they may have, or God-forbid, have a surplus so that they can have an even bigger festival next year?

    And for all of you bitching about the food prices – the individual vendors set their prices and collect 100% of the food income – NOT WorldFest. If you have a complaint about your $8 plate of food, then either complain to that individual company, or don’t buy it in the first place.

    Ok, I’ve said my peace… So disappointing to see such a great organization bashed by a few people who can’t do any math, and just want to hurt the overall cause.

  • GotZenn

    I couldn’t agree more.

    Worst part of the event was coming here and reading all the complaints and the whining. The wife and I took the Metro, so we saved on parking and we had a blast and meet some really cool people.

  • GotZenn: your math is completely flawed. You forgot about the sponsorships, the fact that much of the stuff that’s rented is at-cost or free. Your costs are probably a little on the low side, but the income is severely understated.

    I used to be in the event planning business, and there’s no deficit here I can tell you.

  • I don’t know how big your envelope is for the expenses of putting on a gathering like the wonderfulness of Worldfest: the time, energy, personpower, solarpower, year-long commitment, and coordination – but if you think you can do it better and cheaper, please do! We need as many of this type of consciousness-raising, peaceful gatherings as possible! Go for it!

  • The downfall of vegans will always be, first and foremost, other vegans.

  • I so just read this blog for the comments.

  • Trendy: Don’t be fooled by the sponsorships – most of them are “in-kind” donations, not actual cash. For example, the solar power used to run the event would fall under this category – it’s neither income or an expense, and thus wasn’t calculated in my math. Most of the sponsors fall under this realm – they may donate products or services for the event, but rarely, if ever does it actually amount to cash income. And when I say it costs $125,000 to put on the event, that includes considering stuff that’s donated, or charged at-cost. I’m sure the insurance company and the City of LA, and the port-a-potty company, and the security company, and the EMT medical booth could care less about donating or about the cause – they expect to be paid. I know we all want to think that all these great companies and the City want to contribute and donate everything for a great cause, but that’s far from reality – it costs money to put on this festival.

    Now, let’s say you are right and my math is completely flawed. Where does that leave us? A bunch of dedicated, hardworking vegans dare to make a small amount of profit for a year of work that promotes the message and gets other like-minded people in the same room for a day? Oh, the horror!!

  • I’m sure the event was expensive to run so I’m not complaining about the entrance fees. I do hope it wasn’t for profit, as I’d like to think they did the best possible to make it as cheap as possible for people to come so as to entice people to come learn about these important things.

    I wish the food was a bit cheaper. A lot of it was very expensive. They’re getting publicity out of it, and I wish people would have had the opportunity to buy more food so that non-vegan attendeese would be more encouraged to try stuff out (and see how much cheaper non-meat meals can be!) and see how good vegan food is.

    The Southern Fried Vegan stand was ridiculous btw. Clearly just people hoping to make some $$ for the day. They had one tiny deep fryer, and store bought food. Frozen packages of food they were just throwing in a deep fryer. Completely disorganized. We waited for 30+ minutes (hubby was intrigued by the shrimp) and literally didn’t move in line – finally left.

    Overall was a great day and great event though!

  • first time at worldfest — it was AMAZING šŸ™‚
    thanks so much for doing the post on it the other day, or i would have missed it!

  • Agreed the Southern Fried Vegan gave a really unprofessional, spur-of-the-moment impression. Pretty sure my steak sandwich was just Trader Joe’s beef strips.

    The Jamaican booth had ONE woman making all the food, none of it in advance, and going. so. slow.

    It was all tasty enough, but the best food deals – giving the most food for the same amount of money – were from Bodhi Tree and Follow Your Heart. Surprise, surprise! Actual restaurants who knew what they were doing. They were also the fastest, also unsurprisingly.

  • VegHeadAndrea May 17th, 2010 at 15:40

    For anyone that thinks the producers are dishonest or even make a profit off this – You are simply clueless! Clueless. Get real. Honestly!

  • I loved it and all, but my boyfriend and I are right up there with Mary — something we ate wasn’t completely vegan! We didn’t have the Indian food or the fried stuff, but we did have the Follow Your Heart smoothie and some ice cream from Maggie Mudd…

    Too much food, too few hours in a day…

  • I’ve always thought the “I think I ate something un-vegan” thing is usually similiar to what a hypochondriac does. You spent the day eating tons of convincing food, with only your trust that it was all vegan, and you get suspicious. Enter the placebo effect.

    I would consider a day of over-eating and being in the awful Valley heat a more worthy contender as the cause of any symptoms.

  • Hey Geniuses — the 2008 IRS 990 for Towards Freedom is posted on Guidestar.com. Yea, a few people take some pay. It is an effing joke for the amount of time they put in ALL YEAR planning the event. If you think it is too expensive, don’t come – don’t need your jive bad energy!

    Bob Lindin [sic] may be a voice on vegan radio, but you surely don’t want him to be the face or body of veganism!! — his personal hygiene is horrendous!

  • I think WorldFest itself was not expensive at all, in fact i usually think it’s pretty cheap whenever i hear the tickets cost $7. One year i parked on the street for free, so that’s an option for people driving but i do prefer to pay the $5 for peace of mind since that one year i was worried about my car the whole time. I even left the festival twice to check on it that i didn’t have a ticket or that someone vandalized it. Seriously, $7 is cheap. What event costs less than $7 to get in? I use to play in an adult football league that charged $10 for entrance. $10! And this was just a bunch of grown men playing pop warner in an empty school field. I have paid $15, $25, $50 entrance fees for various events and not had nearly as much fun let alone vendors selling vegan food.

    I am not sure how much money I spent Sun, maybe $100 give or take total. Is this a lot? In a normal day yes, probably but i was having fun. I ate enough food for three days worth, and bought a lot of beer and buying stuff from vendors because they were vegan and seemed nice and whatever.

    Is $8 for a plate of food a lot? Not really, as I have spent a lot more than that going out to most every vegan restaurant. Even non-vegan restaurants i spend more than $8 for a plate. It seems expensive because i kept buying plate of food beyond what is normal. The only real thing i am unsatisfied with my purchase were a couple food vendors selling stuff that i could have made myself in the dark in about a minute. But, hopefully they can take the money i spent and improve their business and get something going.

    I know for a fact that booths are considerably cheap compared to any other event. I have known many people that had booths both past and present and the price is cheap. I also know that they pay bands to play. i do not know about speakers getting paid or not but it would make sense that they get something. not all of these people live locally and probably can’t travel all over the country going to festivals and events to speak and participate in all of these things without any kind of compensation.

    I personally hope the WorldFest people do make a profit. Nothing is wrong with making money. Making money is what gives incentive to build a bigger, better festival year after year. I think i have missed maybe one or two WorldFest events since it started. It’s a good time, i had fun and got to walk up to a booth and order food without too much worry about getting served eggs and whatnot.

    Sometimes it costs a little money to party and have food and drink beer. Since when does it not?

  • For comparison, the Oxnard Strawberry Festival was the same weekend. $5 parking, $12 admission, pretty much nothing to eat (ironically).

  • I saw A LOT OF HAPPY FACES. Don’t let these comments fool you. It was a fun, inspiring and informative day!

    Event producers: PLEASE pay attention: Music was WAY too loud at times. Exhibitors PAY booth costs, transportation (some were from out-of-state!) plus money and time prepping and working all day.

    This is a COMMON problem at MOST events: are we going to Coachella or an informative event? I am known for my punk rock photos, but I CANNOT stand loud music at events I come to gather info and network. I feel for the vendors. It was hard on attendees too.

    Want to cut down on cost? Car-pool, bring your own food and water, and budget. I was very frustrated because I used pickuppal.com, suggested by WorldFest, plus Facebook, and NOT one person responded. I’m close to both the 10 and 405 frwys. I was very blessed that ONE Facebook friend picked me up.

    I spent $15 all day. I bought some lovely stones and a beer (which was a waste, cos I’m not a beer person). But $5 for a beer is average or less than most events, even at some bars for a specialty brand.

    I’m stunned so many people complained about prices. Anyone going to or have gone to the Renaissance Faire? Talk about parking/entrance/food, etc! As some have pointed out, have you priced parking and entrance at other events throughout LA? Try to park in West Hollywood at any art opening, rock show, or to visit friends. As one said, try the LA Convention Center for parking and entrance to most events.

    How much does lunch cost most anywhere, even trucks and fast-food joints, and factor in only vegan-based?

    If you think the food is expensive, bring your own! You’re coming for the food? Then budget. You can’t have it both ways.

    A LOT OF FREE FOOD! COME EARLY. Soda, juices, bites, bars, scoops of this or that. I actually turned down a lot of free food, because all that varying food is hard to digest!

    Tummy-aches: could be too much rich food in a few hours. Sure Maggie’s Mudd looked good, as did all the many desserts. But my days of over-indulging are over. It’s a lesson even vegans need to learn!

    Before standing in a long line, take a look at the booth, and people with the food, ask them! Why would ANYONE eat funnel cakes, loaded with cooked oils and refined carbs? Just because something is vegan does not mean it’s healthy! I was shocked to see people eating them, not because of the dairy whipped cream issue, but because it’s so fattening and unhealthy.

    Maybe next year they can find more speakers focused on EATING and PREPPING healthy vegan food. IF people appreciated the work and ingredients, maybe they wouldn’t complain about prices. Maybe they’d eat healthier, and ENJOY the event more!

    I’m so glad the weather was mild, considering it was the valley, mid-May. Was so cool to see so many people with their dogs and kids. I think there were more dogs than kids.

    It wasn’t perfect, nothing is. But when more of us spread the word, viral marketing online, make positive suggestions, etc, it could become bigger and better. I’m glad I went, and no tummy aches, and didn’t burn a hole in my wallet. Namaste.

  • I guess most of us forgot that the economy sorta sucks right now. Maybe some of these businesses would love to give stuff out for free but I think they are a bit cautious this year.

    GotZenn I love you whoever you are…

    I think if people have issues with this event then they should let the hundreds of volunteers know. Oh, and all of the speakers and musicians who are performing for free. Something tells me that those people might know a bit more about what it takes to throw this event then people who ‘used’ to be event planners…

  • the punk photo lady makes a good point. you didn’t need to spend much money at all if you did not want to. nobody was checking bags or anything and you could bring your own food if you were on a tight budget. Water was free, tons of free stuff to eat and drink.

    Myself, i go to WorldFerst to spend money because i want to eat lots of different vegan meals and drink good craft beer. Also, and nobody has mentioned this, but the workshops were free. For the price of your entrance fee you can sit in a tent and hear some really good speakers. Authors who’s books sell at WholeFoods for $20 or something, you can listen to them and ask them questions for just the cost of admission. AND WorldFest even allows you to volunteer if you really can’t part with the $7 fee.

    I don’t care what any of you say, WorldFest was a bargain. Bunch of whiny, Freegan bastards.

  • This is my fourth WorldFest and my best yet. I was with two amazing people, ate delicious sweets, supported some great vegan vendors and got to eat food made by Tal Ronnen!

    Sunday was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time and I’ll think of it fondly every time I wear the awesome “FUCK SPECIESISM” shirt I bought on my say out šŸ™‚

  • Or my way out…same thing šŸ™‚

  • Parking was only $5 if you insisted on parking right near the entrance. All of Lake Balboa Park was free parking, just a short walk to the other side of the park.

    Seriously, a vegan festival? And a bunch of whining? Why do those things go together? Yes, I think not having any water available on a Valley near-summer day is almost a health crisis and a legitimate complaint. Complaining that you wanted to park closer and then had to pay for it? Not so much.

  • WTF…if we can’t listen to each other’s concerns then we’re no better…yeah vegans complain because we’re a bunch of activists…we’re not willing to accept the wrong way things are…Bob Linden is a powerful vegan force…he should still be part of this…what do BH and JH do as activists…they use this fest to make money for themselves…volunteers who do this event deserve credit but not the capitalists who are not activists and are making money off the rest of us…or the volunteers who do this just to get in for free and don’t do much…there are some super volunteers and some of them real activists…but this is not even an activist event anymore…it needs to be free not for us but for bringing in those we need to get there…we can spend money to go to a vegan event and to buy vegan food if we want…but it needs to be free to get others there who need to be there…the money’s way wrong with this…the equipment costs WF way less than other events…there is a lot of stuff donated to WF and WF then charges a lot…I get a booth for my business and know they’re more expensive than most events…someone is making money…some numbers on GS are lies…some numbers are missing…the IRS should audit WF or BH and JH…the big donations aren’t listed…they don’t even list fundraisers like their big expensive one at Madeline Bistro..the volunteers are great but not the connies…we won’t get a booth and give them money next year.

  • ^ As I said. Vegan’s worst enemy is other vegans.

  • Those funnel cakes were definitely not vegan. I don’t believe anything that guy was selling was vegan, especially with his attitude. Besides, come on, vegan funnel cake? He’d be banking it at all the farmers markets if what he was selling was really vegan. And where was his ingredient list? Just goes to show, you still have to practice good judgment no matter what people claim.

  • I can’t say it better than Sven so I’ll just reinforce:

    “Is this a vegan festival with music or a music festival with vegan food? It seemed more of a music event than a vegan event. DISAPPOINTING!!!!!!!!!!”

  • And I really agree with Sami:

    “If this is supposed to be an event of bringing in people who arenā€™t vegan then it is not doing a good job cause most outsiders wonā€™t spend that kind of money….It used to be free and more people who passed by and happened in were not vegan. It had more of a mission than but now its just a party for us and someoneā€™s making money off of us. I enjoyed it but whatā€™s the purpose? I talked to hundreds of people and they were all already vegan. There are so many vegans now its great but we need to reach the outsiders.”

  • Btw, to the Bob Linden stalker, he has his own festival now and it’s in June. In fact, he was at WorldFest, handing out fliers for it. If you are so obsessed with him, why not just help him w/ his festival and stop dwelling on the past? Bob is a great activist and there is more than enough room in this world for plenty more vegan festivals. Bring them on!

  • Maybe the reason there aren’t more non-vegans attending is that there are so many vegans complaining about $7 for an all day event… People pay double that for a 2 hour movie. Remember we do live in LA.

    I can’t begin to tell you how many times i’ve run into non-vegans who tell me how nice I am compared to other vegans that they have met.

    Seriously people. ‘BH’ and ‘JH’ put ALOT into this event. So what if the get some money from it. They don’t BANK on it. And this event DOES cost money, please give us a realistic break down of how to throw a ‘free’ event of this caliber and size…

  • The cost was not a problem for us. We’re glad to spend money on a good event. We met some nice people and ate some good food. No problems there.
    If people are making money then that’s a problem. The loud music was a problem. The bar was a problem. The smoking was a problem. That woman running the kids area was the worst problem. She was too touchy with Jaden and others she didn’t know. Problems raised above are serious.
    This wasn’t a good, safe, family outing for us. If the problems aren’t fixed we won’t be back.

  • I met a few non vegs there. In fact, the two friends I brought with me (that had so much fun last year they wanted to come back with me again) are carnivores, and had a great time and loved the food (especially the jamaican food).
    My second year at the fest and I had a really good time. I didnt mind the $5 parking. That’s relatively cheap for any type of event! I once paid $50 for parking in stupid ass Hollywood on New years eve so I could party at the stupid Avalon. yea fucking retarded I know. So I cant complain about $5, even though the drive was almost an hour to get there.
    Also they let us in for $5 each since we arrived kinda late (a little after 4 pm).

    Yet again I’m sickened by other vegans being whinney little bastards. You make the rest of us look bad! i hope the event made some $, in hopes that next year will be even better!

    I didnt care for the food from that BBQ vegan whatever, waited in line to find they didnt have any of the items I wanted. So I opted for the sub, which was a huge slab of french bread with 4 measly slices of meat and a little bit of onion. Bleh.
    The funnel cake dudes were in fact douchebags. Hi I’ll take my funnel cake without the attitude thanks.

    But the only real downer about the whole day was some jackass that had a metal choke collar on his poor pit bull! The dog looked so sad with those spikes into his neck! And so many stupid vegans (I would assume) wearing thier animal rights shirts walked by him, shook thier heads in disgrace, but said nothing! Really?! I’m vegan, but I dont consider myself an activist. I told off the asshole, he didnt care. Shockingly he admitted NO ONE else said a word to him about it. I even snapped a picture of the asshole and his poor pup. http://twitpic.com/1oib7z He tried to defend himself by saying “It doesnt really hurt the dog much. Its the same as someone walking on nails..” Seriously??!! I barked at him “It’s someones own stupid decision to walk on nails! Your dog has no choice!” Ugh. I went to pet the dog, and he licked my hand. Made me so sad.
    Seriously shame on some vegans! Bitching about petty shit! And shame on everyone who noticed the poor dog in his choke collar and didnt say a damn thing to the owner! Shame!!!!!

  • I’ve gone to this event in years past and it used to be free.

  • So much negative energy (god, I sound like a hippy) towards a non-issue. Perhaps some of you have heard the phrase, “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long”? Chill out.

  • That’s why I don’t hang out with most vegans anymore…..I’m so sick of their petty bitching. There are lots of hard-working UNPAID volunteers that put this event on. You should thank them next time b/c w/o them, we wouldn’t have Worldfest.

    I was in the beer garden and had the best time! I hung with my pooch and drank lots of of booze. Couldn’t find a single Vegan- Drinks person but I didn’t advertise myself either. I can’t wait til next year.

  • @chefveg10 – Back this statement up or retract it: “some numbers on GS are liesā€¦some numbers are missingā€¦the IRS should audit WF or BH and JHā€¦the big donations arenā€™t listed”

  • almostlegal21 May 19th, 2010 at 13:41

    Where can I get that great icecream here in LA? Orgasmic! And I love that fried shrimp! I loved all the food but I had too much to drink. My fault! Over ten beers! My wallet and head both hated me on Monday! And I’m only 20! Jumping in the bouncy is so fun drunk! You only live once! Too many uptight people here! It was a great party!

  • For those of you who didn’t realize, the Southern Fried Vegan booth was actually the Non-Profit organization Community Animal Project. Their booth was a fundraiser for their organization.

    Throughout the day at Worldfest, the power was cut off several times. Being that the fryers were electrical powered, this caused many problems for both the fried chickun and french fries. Lack of overall crispiness, extra oil and some soggy fries were the result. It actually got to the point where there was no power for 20 minutes so they threw a pan full of oil on the grill to make sure everyone could be served. Cooking non-stop multiple orders of fried chickun, shrimp, and fries in a small pan over a charcoal grill was not easy or ideal..but necessary to serve.

    Having a solar powered event is great, but power complications can arise as a result unfortunately. All vendors, the organizers and power providers are working together to make sure the same issue does not happen next year. Please support Worldfest and Southern Fried Vegan next year as improvements are on their way!!


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