Whether you love animals or tacos, a sanctuary farm in Wellington County is teaming up with vegan businesses to throw a fun food event.
On Saturday, residents are invited to come check out Vegan Taco Fiesta & Market happening in the parking lot of Green Goddess Fromagerie, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Up to six vegan vendors will be in attendance, offering food, products and fashion.
The outdoor event is in support of GLO Farm Sanctuary. Ali Valentine, the founder of the sanctuary, said it is nice to see all these businesses come out to support the animals. She encourages people to check out all the businesses attending.
“I think that there’s been a lot of people who have been isolated and really missing that sense of belonging and coming together,” said Valentine, “I think even if they don’t have money to spend, if they’re just looking to have a conversation with other people, that there will certainly be people here to fill that need.”
The idea for the event began when GLO Farm Sanctuary reached out to Green Goddess Fromagerie about setting up a 10x10 pop up booth in their parking lot.
““They really took off with the idea and said, ‘Actually wait, let’s do something bigger and better,’” said Valentine, recalling the conversation.
“It just turned into this coming together of the community to help support the sanctuary.”
Like other non-profits during the pandemic, GLO Farm Sanctuary lost a lot of their traditional revenues when events were cancelled. Valentine mentions the organization was recently allowed to run limited, private tours again.
Due to this, GLO Farm Sanctuary switched to focusing on gaining sponsors through Patreon, a subscription-based platform.
After seeing some success, Valentine mentions the sanctuary will continue to promote sponsorship as a way to help care for their 28 animals.
“Our focus was on getting a lot of people to donate a little,” said Valentine, “We set our goal of getting a thousand people a month, to donate three dollars a month.”
“That’s something we’re still growing because the needs of the animals as they age only become more intensive and more expensive.”
During the event, three types of tacos will be served from Yam Chop, a vegan deli based in Toronto. The three types of tacos will be jerk, pulled pork and fysh, a vegan fish product. A percentage of taco sales will be going to the sanctuary.
“Everybody loves tacos,” said Valentine, “If there’s one thing vegans will flock to is anything with food, it’s definitely the currency of the vegan people.”
Besides tacos, Valentine mentions Green Goddess Fromagerie will also be offering a new type of vegan cheese called ‘Hold the Holstein’ which is a black-and-white marble cheddar. All sales proceeds for Hold the Holstein will also be going toward GLO Farm Sanctuary, she adds.
“It’s got a nice creaminess to it, a good tartness,” she said about the cheese, “The black doesn’t have any flavour to it that you may have preconceived.”
With no admission fee, Valentine hopes lots of people will come check out the event on Saturday, even if it’s to learn more about the work at GLO Farm Sanctuary.
“I love nothing more than to talk about the work we do here, because I’m so incredibly proud of it, and these guys (animals) are my life,” she said.
More information about Vegan Taco Fiesta & Market can be found here.
