(Naperville, IL) Veggie Fest, one of the largest vegetarian food festivals in North America, had a record-breaking weekend August 9-10 as they saw crowds of 30,000 people from around the world at the two-day event held on the grounds of the Science of Spirituality Meditation Center in Naperville, IL.
As a result of the record numbers in attendance, other records were also broken, including the number of visitors attending the two keynote talks by Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj and the presentations in the Learn to Meditate and Learn to Be Vegetarian tents. Additionally, more people than ever took the 14-Day Vegetarian Challenge, and to support People’s Resource Center in Wheaton, IL, festival goers donated three times the amount of non-perishable vegetarian items as they did last year.
“To break these records and surpass our previous year’s attendance at Veggie Fest by close to 5,000 people shows the tremendous increase in the interest in healthy living and vegetarianism,” said Jonathan Kruger, festival coordinator. “We’re thrilled with the incredible turnout at the 9th Annual Veggie Fest.”
With a huge international food court, health professionals speaking on diet, lifestyle, and environmental issues, engaging food demos by restaurant owners, chefs, and authors, an incredible children’s tent with face painting, clowns, and crafts, live music from some of Chicago’s best bands, over 100 vendor booths to explore, terrific sponsors including Whole Foods and Nature’s Path Organics, and free admission and free parking, Veggie Fest has become a highly anticipated summer event in the Chicagoland area.
Veggie Fest guests were also excited to hear the talk by Dr. Terry Mason, head of the Cook County Public Health System, and see long-time vegan and newly crowned Miss Illinois, Marisa Buchheit, who performed on the music stage and held a meet and greet in the children’s tent.
Veggie Fest 2015 promises to be an especially great event as the festival celebrates its 10th anniversary. Organizers and fans on social media are already looking forward to another great weekend of family fun. www.veggiefestchicago.org
