Derry to host its first Vegan Festival this weekend

The event takes place on Saturday from 10.30am to 5pm and has been organised by the founder of an animal welfare and rehoming charity.

The local festival follows popular festivals across other major cities in Ireland and the UK as well as in France.

The founder of the Vegan Festival, Gareth Edwards and his team came to Derry last summer to visit potential venues. Mr Edwards told the Journal at the time that he was delighted to be bringing the event to the north west.

“We thought we shouldn’t just think of Northern Ireland as being Belfast. I thought, it’s time Derry had something.”

The idea for a vegan festival came about in 2013 as means to help fund the animal rescue charity Mr Edwards founded, ‘Farplace’.

The festival in Derry will feature a wide range of local and visiting businesses and cottage industries who have developed food, drink and products that are not tested on animals and do not contain any animal products or by-products. The vegan goods on offer includes hot dishes and pies, cakes, desserts, houseware and bath and beauty products, with input from local restaurants, cafes, shops and traders, as well as visiting ones. There is also information stalls on health, nutrition and well-being, speakers involved in grass-roots activism and screenings of films.

Entry tickets are priced at £3 pay at the door or book online (where you can also get VIP tickets for £15). For more information or to book, check out ‘Irish Vegan Festival’ on Facebook or see www.facebook.com/events/653093345089764/