The Stanford Inn is AMAZING!

Wow! The reason we reached out to The Stanford Inn was because their website looked like it needed an update. The photos were somewhat outdated. We didn't know what we were heading towards, but let me tell you, the resort is incredible. How would you like to have a wood burning fireplace in your room with unlimited access to firewood that lights easily? I lit a fire almost every day I was there. The views are stunning. The food is delicious (and healthy). It's all organic and pretty darn close to whole foods plant based. It's the type of trip where you eat and you don't feel guilty about what you're eating.

Did you catch my live with Sid? Almost everything you want to know about the Inn is covered, plus more details on the fundraiser and how the cash prize will go up. If we sell 100 tickets by May 1, I'll increase the cash for first place to $750 and if we sell 200 tickets by July 1, I'll increase it to $1000. You want to enter.

Thanks to our Sponsors

Dustin Harder is super cool. I had the privilege to introduce him twice at the Atlanta Vegfest. He has a podcast called Keep on Cookin'. Dustin reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in luggage tags and of course I said yes. If you get one of our VIP bags you might find one in there. Definitely check him out and his cookbooks too.

Stuck in an Airport

Well, this isn't my first stuck in an airport story. LOL We made it to Minneapolis and we even boarded our plane, but upon taxiing, the pilot found something wrong with the steering. We deplaned and are now waiting for them to fix our current plant (taking longer than anticipated) or find another plane to get us home. Frannie is being a trooper though. I would typically go into the sky lounge, but Fran would have to be inside her carrier. I have her out and about at the gate. It was a great decision to bring her with me. She's been a fantastic travel companion and she was really good to have with me because this wasn't the easies of trips. There's nothing like traveling for 9 plus days to bring up all the feels, you know?

Of course I only got 3-4 hours of sleep. Bring on the snacks!

The trip had a little bit of everything from drama, to models, to people leaving early (some for the better and some because they were sick). Daniel took over 10,000 photos! David took a ton of video. I took photos and video. I'm going to create a reel just of all the food. I've posted a few reels, you can check them out on the Vegfest Expos Instagram. California is such an interesting state. I lived there for seven years. It's truly beautiful and a part of me was feeling like I missed it, but I really do love living in North Carolina and you can't beat southern hospitality. If you watch the live I did with Sid, it will fill you in on the week we had at the resort.

Check out The Stanford Inn. I'm adding an incentive to the fundraiser, if we sell 100 tickets by May 1, I'll increase the cash for first place to $750 and I'll raise it to $1000 if we sell 200 tickets by July 1. If you've purchased a ticket (thank you), please share because if we hit these goals and you win, you'll win more money in addition to the weekend stay at the resort.

Wilmington is Next

Wilmington Vegfest is on April 21. Here's a few reasons to join us:

*Free Face Painting

*Beer for sale (fundraiser for us)

*Vegan Food (should I have led with this?)

*Vegan Desserts

*DJ spinning the tunes

*MZ Jazzy Entertaining & Hosting Fun Contests

*Shopping our Awesome Vendors

*Supporting our Presenting Sponsor - Blueberry Lane

*Get your Tickets before they go up on 4/14!

*We are still looking for Vendors & Volunteers

Seeds to Inspire

Each week we share a seed to inspire you powered by our friends at weDIDit.health. 

Seed #44: The risk of prostate cancer can be reduced by 35% and the risk for type 2 diabetes is decreased by 23% by going vegan

You are what you eat right? In this case, you're mitigating disease based on your diet. Even as a vegan you can eat poorly, but if you focus on mostly whole foods, limit unnecessary fats, and reduce processed foods you'll have a better chance of seeing the health benefits from what you are eating.

Weekly News Items

If you're a vendor and are interested in joining us at any of other events, please click here. Interested in volunteering at our events? Visit our website to choose the events you'd like to volunteer for.

We are using a new system for vendors to sign up but it's also a place where attendees can go to see our vendor maps and follow us to stay up to date on all things Vegfest Expos. Click here and please follow us (you can leave a review too). Vendors can see what festivals are open and easily apply to the festivals you wish to join. We always want you to take advantage of our early bird rates! 

We still need volunteers to assist with the festivals. We especially need help at the end of the day and this is even more so in Asheville. Have you ever thought about wanting to learn how we make all of this happen and want to travel and be a part of our vegfest team? We love our core team and if you feel like this is something you'd be interested in, hit reply and let's chat. 

Wilmington Vegfest - April 21, 2024 - Wilmington, NC - Open to vendors

Columbia Vegfest - May 5, 2024 - Columbia, SC - Open to vendors

Asheville SpringFest - June 2, 2024 - Asheville, NC - Open to vendors

Georgia Vegfest - August 25, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - Open to vendors

Triangle Vegfest - September 15, 2024 - Durham, NC - Open to vendors

Asheville Veganfest - October 6, 2024 - Asheville, NC - Open to vendors

Vegan Mac & Cheese Cook-Off Greenville - November 3, 2024 - Greenville, SC - open to vendors

TVF Holiday Market - December 1, 2024 - Wake Forest, NC - opening in August

Vegan Mac & Holiday Market Columbia - December 8, 2024 - Columbia, SC

Enter our social media contests this month for a chance to win one of our ELEVEN prizes from our incredible sponsors. If you're not following at least our Vegfest Expos page on Instagram, you need to. The rest of the month, the prizes will be raffled to our VIP/VIP PLUS and to people who buy raffle tickets for our Raleigh festival.

When you win, don't forget to tag us and the company on your social! We want to see your smiling faces. 

DoJo Fresh is our April Sponsor!

Don't forget to follow our social media for a chance to win awesome prize packs from Fabalish, DoJo Fresh, Vegky, Terraseed, Burny Wild's Adventure Sauce, Trupo Treats, Kathy Hester Cooking Classes, Total Body Lab, Bitchin' Sauce, and Hodo Foods. 

Let's Get Cooking with our Recipe of the Week: Jalapeno Hot Sauce

Vegans love salad. Don't let anyone tell you something different. Enjoy this oil free ranch dressing the next time you want to dip or flavor your salad. It's all the flavor without all the guilt. Get the recipe here. 

Are you going to make this? Let us know what you think and tag us on your social with a picture of the finished product! #vegfestexposrecipes

Thanks to Kathy Hester for the recipe.