Scranton VegFest is canceled before its first-ever event at Co-op Farmers Market
After being announced in February, the first Scranton VegFest has been canceled a little over a month before its inaugural event.
Set for Sunday, Aug. 13 at the Co-op Farmers Market in Scranton, the festival planned to not only feature vegetarian and vegan food, but all aspects of that lifestyle, including physical fitness and health, animal sanctuaries and adoption, and clean energy, along with entertainment and education.
The Facebook page and announcement video, which surpassed 12,000 views in 48 hours on Facebook, successfully generated plenty of positive buzz about the new event, but they have since been taken down. The video is still available to watch on Vimeo:
Organizer Christian Pilosi, owner of Eden – A Vegan Cafe in downtown Scranton, said in a message posted to Facebook on Monday, July 3 that not enough money has been generated from sponsors and vendor fees to make the Scranton VegFest financially feasible in 2017. Wolff Athletics owner Harrison Wolff, another organizer, appears to no longer be involved in the event.
“When this idea was brought to me, there was great enthusiasm among those who brought it, but then it was left at my feet, for me to attempt to manage, develop, and promote by myself, and although I have many other responsibilities, to my business and my family, I gave it a great shot,” Pilosi wrote.
“I remain super proud and encouraged by the great strides for all things vegan and plant-based that I have personally seen happen in the hearts and minds of the folks here in the Scranton area. Since I opened the doors to my vegan restaurant in 2008, we’ve seen such growth in the interest in vegan food, by leaps and bounds, and we are so proud to be a part of it and we are thankful to see such positive change happening. Hopefully, in the future, Scranton can host an annual Vegfest, because even though I was unable to attract enough vendors and sponsors to make it happen this year, the idea lives on and the interest continues to grow.”
The full statement from Pilosi is below:
“After compiling all the vendor applications received at this point, it has become clear that Scranton Vegfest is going to have to be cancelled for 2017. We know this is a big disappointment, and no one is more disappointed than me, as I’ve worked very hard and long on this, by myself, over the last several months, but based on the amount of vendors that have signed up, it’s simply not nearly enough to put on the festival.
This festival needed to be fully funded by sponsors and vendor fees, and while the vendors who have signed up are great food, beverage, retail, craft, art and non-profit organizations and businesses, the fees do not even bring us halfway to funding the event, covering the expenses of renting the venue and procuring the electrical needs for the festival.
Although I would love to do it, I simply cannot put in upwards of $1500 myself, as that would not be fair to me, or to my business, which is working hard everyday to spread the message of all things vegan through the serving of our New American Vegan Comfort Food at eden-a vegan cafe.
So after much thought and consideration, there is no other option left than to pull the plug on it for this year. When this idea was brought to me, there was great enthusiasm among those who brought it, but then it was left at my feet, for me to attempt to manage, develop and promote by myself, and although I have many other responsibilities, to my business and my family, I gave it a great shot. I spent countless hours working on it, I was able to procure the fantastic venue of the Co-op Farmers Market, I put together vendor contracts and information packets, reached out to many attractive vendors and musicians and groups and people ready to volunteer, contracted with an electrician to provide power for food vendors and musicians, and I am thankful to all who got on board to be part of Scranton Vegfest, but it simply is not nearly enough to fund the event, and with just six weeks to go, the only thing left for me to do is unfortunately write this post to cancel the event.
Later this week, I will be in touch with all vendors who signed up, and will be returning all payments made in full. I do apologize for the inconvenience of planning for something that will now not take place. Please know that I worked hard to make this happen, but it was just not to be at this time.
With all this said, I remain super proud and encouraged by the great strides for all things vegan and plant-based that I have personally seen happen in the hearts and minds of the folks here in the Scranton area. Since I opened the doors to my vegan restaurant in 2008, we’ve seen such growth in the interest in vegan food, by leaps and bounds, and we are so proud to be a part of it and we are thankful to see such positive change happening. Hopefully in the future Scranton can host an annual Vegfest, because even though I was unable to attract enough vendors and sponsors to make it happen this year, the idea lives on and the interest continues to grow.
Lastly, I’d like to say thank you to the folks at the farmers market for working with me on this, as it really would have been the perfect venue, and I am grateful for their support. We encourage everyone to frequent the market when it opens in a couple weeks, as I know I will be buying much of the produce that we use at eden from many of the farmers who sell their goods there, from July through November.
Have a wonderful summer everyone, and of course I look forward to seeing you all at eden.”
