It is a lot easier these days to find vegan menu items.
The founder of the fully vegan Vegtoberfest celebration taking place at the Trinity Beer Garden in the Biltmore Park in Providence on Sept. 23 said her event will be filling the area “with more plant-based vendors than you can shake a cornstalk at!”
Robin Dionne is a 25-year vegan with a love of planning Rhode Island community gatherings. She says that these days, it is as though “veganism has infiltrated the regular food scene.”
Dionne is a communications professional who has worked with The Arcade Providence; Trinity Brewhouse; TEDxProvidence; the former Local 121 restaurant in Providence; RI NOW, or the Rhode Island National Organization for Women; New Harvest Coffee & Spirits; the Great International Beer Fest; and the Rhode Island Home Show featuring the Flower and Garden Show, among others.
Dionne spends her days as the chief public affairs officer at HealthSource RI. She’s also a partner in Ampersand Creative Co., which hosts several large-scale community events, including the RI VegFest, Little City Thrifty Vintage Market, The Good Trade Makers Market, and the Bloom Flower & Home Market.
As Dionne explained, her curating of a select group of food and beverage providers in the Vegtoberfest event benefits both attendees and the vendors.
“Our Trinity Beer Garden features loads of samples from local breweries, and people are surprised to find they are familiar names that just happen to brew beer that happens to be vegan,” she said.
Dionne cited Narragansett Beer as an example. The venerable, beloved Rhode Island lager has been vegan right along.
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VEGAN BREWS: People line up during last year’s Vegtoberfest in Providence, which offers vegan drinks and food for sampling and purchase. This year’s event will be held in the Trinity Beer Garden in Biltmore Park on Sept. 23.
COURTESY CARLY RAE PHOTOGRAPHY[/caption]
What makes a beer vegan?
Dionne explained, with the help of her partner in Ampersand, BJ Mansuetti, “Beer sometimes is processed with nonvegan ingredients,” she said. “There are beers that may contain lactose, for example.”
Mansuetti has been building brands through strategic and authentic content development, design, outreach, events and innovative grassroots marketing programs for nearly 15 years. His true passion is to help brands engage in deeply personalized and meaningful ways with the communities they serve.
Mansuetti served as Narragansett Beer’s brand director for seven years, where he created an Emmy-award winning event and video series.
Vegtoberfest will feature samples from local breweries and restaurants, as well as a vegan marketplace of artists, makers, food producers and more. With your ticket, you’ll get to sample food from 15 restaurants, and many will offer full-sized items from their menu for purchase.
The event will consist of three two-hour sessions during which ticketed guests may sample, eat, drink and shop the marketplace. There will be live music to complement the event. There will also be samples of seasonal beers from Rhode Island-based breweries and drinks from local beverage producers and distilleries, including nonalcoholic beverages. While sampling, if one beverage captures your interest, full pours will be available for purchase at the bar, as will vegan specialty cocktails.
An aspect of the event that is important to Dionne is that it is fully compostable from entry to exit and top to bottom. Very little trash – that is, waste material destined for the landfill – will be generated. Local company Bootstrap Compost is a sponsor along with World Centric, a manufacturer of compostable disposable dinnerware.
Vegtoberfest, like its sibling event, RI VegFest, promotes a fun and compassionate plant-based vegan lifestyle in the Ocean State. The organizers and participants want to show their love for eating a plant-based diet.
“Dining Out With Bruce Newbury,” syndicated weekly on radio, can be heard in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Indiana. Contact Bruce at bruce@brucenewbury.com.
