Portsmouth is getting its very own Vegan Festival; it’s coming to Portsmouth Guildhall on Saturday 25th February 2017. In advance of the event, we caught up with festival organiser, Victoria Bryceson, to learn more…
What can we expect to find at the new Portsmouth Vegan Festival?
There are going to be over 100 stalls within Portsmouth Guildhall. Ten of those will be hot caterers offering food from around the world – like Italian, Chinese, English, Malaysian and African.
We’ll have lots of food to take away – cakes, chocolate, raw food, cheese and free samples – along with all day cookery demos and talks. You’ll be able to buy clothing, footwear, jewellery, gifts and homeware. There’s even going to be a vegan body building competition!
Why Portsmouth?
I’ve organised a lot of vegan festivals before, all over the UK in places like Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, London, Brighton, Birmingham, Liverpool and Nottingham.
Viva, the charity that I work for held a popular one here in 2015. I felt like Portsmouth had been a little left behind and wanted to start up a regular festival here.
I live in Cumbria but I love coming down south. Where I live I have to travel 50 miles to find a decent vegan eatery and the further south I travel, the more I find! I’m looking forward to seeing what Portsmouth has to offer.
What else do you do in your spare time?
For the last three years I’ve been running a charity called Miracle’s Mission for stray cats and dogs – we have just set up our first major project in Bourneo. Many of them have bad injuries, are covered in ticks or have mange. I help get them back to health, get them neutered and rehome them, all the while educating people on how to treat animals properly. In fact, my vegan events are 100% not-for-profit and the proceeds from the Portsmouth Vegan Festival will go to Miracle’s Mission.
I’m not vegan, can I come?
Of course you can! I’m proud to say that we welcome everyone at our events – we just want lots of people to be curious and we’re sure they’ll learn loads about veganism, while trying some tasty food and picking up some lovely products.
Event information
Saturday 25th February, 11am – 5pm. £3 entry fee, payable on the day on the door. Under 16’s free. VIP tickets including fast track entry and a goody bag full of vegan products, samples and money off coupons are £13 available in advance from veganeventsuk@gmail.com (100 only). For more information, check out the event on Facebook.
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