If you’ve been to Twin Cities Veg Fest, you know the exciting array of food vendors, retail vendors and exhibitors are a major part of the festival’s appeal. Meet the talented team helping to coordinate them! Annette, Ibtisam and Sarah have been dedicating their time to making this year’s lineup of vendors and exhibitors a great one. Read what they’re looking forward to on festival day, September 19!
Annette Delabarbara
Tell us about your role for Twin Cities Veg Fest.
I’m the Non-Food Exhibitor Coordinator. (Yes, it’s a mouthful!) I help get all the non-food vendors, artists, and non-profits set up to present at the festival.
What inspired you to get involved with the Twin Cities Veg Fest?
I’ve been attending for a while and have volunteered on a smaller scale for Twin Cities Veg Fest so I thought I would bump it up this year! I’ve always loved even the smaller-scale volunteering because it really gives that feeling of being part of and giving back to a larger community.
What are you most looking forward to about the festival?
Obviously, the food 🙂 I’m also hoping to catch some of the cooking demos as well. I’m ready for some post-Covid recipe refreshing!
What advice do you have for people who are thinking about volunteering for Twin Cities Veg Fest?
As someone who has been in your shoes, I would highly recommend just going for it. It’s only a few hours of your time and you get to contribute to making this awesome festival run! Not to mention the fact that it’s a great way to meet like-minded people, and the cherry on top is the gorgeous location! There are lots of volunteer positions to choose from, so finding one that best aligns with what you find interesting or fun is key.
Ibtisam Brown
Tell us about your role for Twin Cities Veg Fest.
I’m the food vendor coordinator for Twin Cities Veg Fest. I’m responsible for reaching out to food vendors and food exhibitors — those selling ready-to-eat meals and those selling packaged foods — and answering any questions they have. I’m also responsible for outreach and contacting food vendors and exhibitors who haven’t been to the festival before.
What inspired you to get involved with the Twin Cities Veg Fest?
I moved to Minnesota about 5 years ago and was so excited to connect with other vegans here. In fact, the very first Twin Cities Veg Fest was also the first big vegan event I had ever been to! I volunteered because I want other people to experience the community Twin Cities Veg Fest imbues too.
What are you most looking forward to about the festival?
I’m really excited for the people who haven’t attended before. I can’t wait for them to try great vegan food, learn more about compassionate living, and get plugged into the vegan community we’re so lucky to have.
What advice do you have for people who are thinking about volunteering for Twin Cities Veg Fest?
Don’t worry if you haven’t volunteered for an event like this before! The whole team is made up of the kindest people who help guide you through it.
Sarah Jenkins
Tell us about your role for Twin Cities Veg Fest.
I am a Sponsor Coordinator for Twin Cities Veg Fest. My role is to recruit people and organizations to sponsor the event. Sponsorships can vary from financial gifts, product donations, or in-kind gifts, all of which go towards covering the full cost of the event and help make it great. I also work with sponsors to collect assets like logo images and video content that we will use to promote the event and to promote their organization as well. In addition to working with sponsors, I have also been learning a lot about Event Hub. I will be helping our exhibitors/sponsors use that platform for their virtual booths and hopefully I’ll be able to answer any questions they might have about the platform.
What inspired you to get involved with the Twin Cities Veg Fest?
I had only been to the festival once in 2019, so I didn’t have too much experience with the event before this year. I remember when I went to the event in 2019, I was a new vegan and I had a wonderful time; I learned a lot and the food there was amazing! What inspired me to get involved with Twin Cities Veg Fest this year was that I always thought there was more I could be doing to help animals other than just being vegan. I also wanted to be a part of a group of people who also shared my beliefs. And what better way to help animals than being a part of this amazing festival that is open to everybody!
What are you most looking forward to about the festival?
I’m looking forward to going to my first big event since March 2020. I love festivals and seeing lots of people gathering together, especially if it’s for a great cause like animal advocacy. I also am looking forward to discovering new companies, restaurants, and organizations that I might not be familiar with yet.
What advice do you have for people who are thinking about volunteering for Twin Cities Veg Fest?
Volunteering at Twin Cities Veg Fest will be a blast! It’s a great way to meet new people and your help will be greatly appreciated. You don’t need to be vegan to volunteer, we are a very welcoming and fun group. I would say the crowd at Twin Cities Veg Fest is also really cool, so if you were assigned a role where you would be interacting with visitors, you will meet some pretty awesome people. Another thing that is nice about volunteering at a festival, is that you can choose your shift and you don’t have to volunteer all day, you can enjoy part of the day just being at the festival. And lastly, it’s more fun if you can get your friends to volunteer with you!