Last weekend (6 November 2022) I attended the Great Yorkshire Vegan Festival at South Leeds Stadium where it was hosted for the first time. It was a great day out as the weather was dry and over 1200 visitors flocked in to sample the delights of the organic and vegan market. There were over 80 stalls with stallholders from all over the UK, some having set off at 4:30am to arrive in Beeston … on a Sunday!
The atmosphere was eye opening as the crowds were so varied, as one of the organisers said to me:
“We don’t have a typical vegan customer or what one looks like. As you can see it is very family friendly”
There were talks on every hour with one speaker sharing his journey of how he lost over five stone just on a vegan diet after being diagnosed with a chronic illness. The audience was packed as he shared his tips and enlightenment on his health journey.
Two of my favourite stalls were the Omni Vegan food supplements stall where they were selling clean organic supplements. No nasties in. At this time of year he was very popular and I ended up winning some supplements so that was a nice surprise!
I met a very kind and therapeutic lady called Ruby who is a qualified massage lady and sells organic self care oils called ‘Devaiya Oils’. We chatted as she gave me a neck and shoulder massage and she told me how she started her business after suffering whiplash and could not find the right oils for her body to heal. She is from North Leeds and will be in John Lewis during the week commencing 21 November doing complimentary massages if anyone wants to pop along!
Finding halal or vegan sweets can be tricky so image my delight when I came across ‘Cherry Sweets’ where for once I did not have to check the ingredients list. The most sour and fizziest sweets I have ever tasted and you could not tell the difference between halal, vegan or vegetarian.
Finally I met a lovely mother and daughter duo who started their own essential oils home business after the mother took early retirement.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the festival and I hope they come back to Beeston next year.
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