VegSarasota Thanksgiving Event Recap

On Sunday, November 19th VegSarasota hosted their 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Party. Last year we had about 45 people due to limited seating at the venue. So after all the people who expressed their desire to attend this year's soirée, Dill & I decided we really had to do it up. So we went and rented out a gorgeous meeting hall at the South Gate Community Center, and signed up a great band Radio Free Carmela & The Transmitters to provide the entertainment. And entertain they did! In the short 45 minutes we had to set everything up and decorate, they set themselves up and had music going when we opened the doors to the public.

They had everyone dancing, I took a breather to take this photo


We had people crashing the gate even before we were done decorating, and we had to add an extra table for all the food that people brought. I saw so much good food going by me at the front desk I felt like I gained weight just watching it. All in all we had over 150 people in attendance, including folks from Tampa, St. Pete, Venice, Cape Coral and beyond! We had a lot of kids come out as well, and the beautiful park setting and extra room to run really made it enjoyable for them.



I'd be here all day if I listed all the Vegan food people brought, and you'd be running to the kitchen to get yourself something to eat. There there were some standout items though: Somosas (thanks Ted & Shikha!), Fruit bundt Cake with caramel icing, photo-perfect sweet potato pie, many kinds of cookies & pies, veggie loaf, fresh fruit combinations, celebration loaves, and all kinds of fresh steamed veggies like Asparagus, Garlic, squash, carrots and more! The best part about all of the food is that it was completely cruelty free! Folks were very accommodating when Judson & I asked each person if their dish happened to contain any animal products.


This is just a small section of 1 of the tables.

Also during all the fun, Michele & Aurelia had everyone mixing and mingling with the fun party game they brought, which involved finding a matching note card to the one you were given. I spent most of the evening looking around only to discover that Dill had my match! I think it was a setup.

Thanks to everyone for coming, and especially those who contributed food and energy!


Michele, Raylon, Dill, Carmela, Aurelia & Barry

VegSarasota would like to thank our many sponsors without whom this event would have not been the outstanding success it was:
Guest speaker Kimberly Braun, M.A. of Urthdance, LLC Minister and Reiki Master
Better World Media
East-West College of Natural Medicine
Jessica's Organic Farm
Center of Integrated Medicine
Webber Appraisal & Consulting
Two Amigos
Uva Rara
Artists Daniel Bilodeau & Beth Holder
Whole Foods Market
Siam Orchid Thai Restaurant
Two Amigo's Mexican Restaurant
Michele Mician, Yoga Instructor
Aurelia Webber, Yoga Instructor
Lisa Wilson, Photographer
Trance Hands Massage
Biotica EcoTours
Good Earth
and of course Barry