Ravi Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Just got back from a full day at the Vegan Holiday Festival in Portland. I must say that it was truly impressive to see so many people coming out to give their support to such am important cause. As Robert mentioned at the end of the day….”I think everyone won today, the exhibitors, the speakers, the attendees, the volunteers, the community…and of course, the animals.” mad props to Robert for following through on his "bright idea" a couple of months ago to pull this off. I drove down from Seattle for this and must say I got MORE than I could have hoped out of the event! I took some pics and will post tomorrow. Can't wait for next year's event! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 We did it! We did it! We did it! I must have said that 30 times tonight (just to myself) and another dozen times to those around me who helped make this event possible. There are too many people to thank, but since Ravi started the thread, I'll thank him first. Ravi worked at the Vegan Bodybuilding booth nearly all day. He was totally awesome, arrived early, stayed late, did everything I requested. He rocked! Loveliberate, DV, davidtarrfoster and many others on the forum were a huge help too. xDarthVeganx was there, oregonisaac, joelbt, Brendan Brazier and others on the forum. It was a pretty emotional day for me. I think we accomplished what I promised we'd do and have pretty much be largest vegan gathering anywhere in North America. I won't have the official count until tomorrow but it was somewhere between 1,000-2,000 vegans and dozens of non-vegans checking things out. I only slept for 90 minutes the day before, there was just too much work to do and I got up at 4:17AM to prepare for the event. I was the first to arrive (aside from one volunteer who beat me by a few minutes) and I was the last to leave. I was there from before 6AM to nearly 9PM and when it was all said and done and everyone had left I just sat out on the curb outside the building and reflected on the day. It was truly beautiful. It was something amazing and it was very emotional for me because I had been dreaming of the day that the event would be over. I dreamt it would succeed and it did. It was a lot of hard work and I could sit there and be totally at peace with myself. I still haven't slept and I should really go to bed. Thanks for all the support. I also really need to thank Richard! Richard really helped make this thing happen. For one day in November, we had the biggest vegan event anywhere and for a day I feel like we really did it. We finally arrived and we shocked a lot of people. Thanks for trusting me, and thanks for supporting me. We did it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 SLEEEEP! I hope you get refreshed man, go on a stress detox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DV Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 (edited) ' Edited November 16, 2008 by DV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evrim Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 That was a great showing! Thanks for organizing this Robert and to all the many volunteers. It was so fun!!! Many many kudos! Even the security guard outside was amazed at how many people showed up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finbarrio Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Awesome - wish we could have been there. Can't wait to see the photos. Great job Robert, and great job everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 I'm pretty positive we had more forum members here than at the Vegan Vacation! Our forum has grown since then and many new members are from Portland or nearby, and pretty much all the Portland regulars and their friends were there. We wish you were there too Finn. You would have enjoyed it. About 1000 vegans all hanging out with 60+ exhibit tables, great food vendors, and an all-star line-up of speakers and presenters. It was largest project I've done, but it paid off in every way. It was a great event for veganism, for the environment, for the animals, for the exhibitors, for the city of Portland, etc. Now I'm exhausted. I'm trying to promise myself to take a break before the next big event. 2 years without a break is really starting to eat away at me. Thanks to all who attended, it was great to see so many of you from this group! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravi Posted November 20, 2006 Author Share Posted November 20, 2006 OK...many of my pics seem to have dissappeared into the ether...but here are a few I was able to rescue! I saw lots of cameras and camcorders going off at the event, so if you were there and took some pics...pls post! a poster for vegan bodybuilding...I think we managed to get a few new recruits....yeah!!!! Robert directing the troops! I gotta get me one of those... VBB had some prime real estate! and a couple other pics are here: Also, I wrote a blog post with a few more details from Brendan and Howard's talks. They were absolutely awesome! Robert...will you be making recordings of their talks available? Perhaps a DVD of all the speaker sessions? http://www.sethigherstandards.com/vegan-holiday-festival-3/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Thanks for posting photos Ravi I know we have a bunch more. I had a professional photographer capturing the events, I took a handful when I wasn't super busy, and there were lots of cameras flying around. We had a whole film crew there, so all the talks/demos/interviews etc. will be on TV in the future and it will be available on DVD as well. I'll keep everyone updated. I've got to rest now, and I haven't even looked at my photos yet, but I'll get to it soon. Thanks again for all your help Ravi! You were an all-star man! Seriously, I really appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Wow. I gotta get off my ass and start coming to some of this stuff. Well done Rob. Sounds amazing. And I like that long sleeve vegan bodybuilding shirt. Is that a vbb shirt? Looks sharp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 It's the only long-sleeved one I've got left I'll make more though. The event was amazing, ground-breaking and I'm really proud of how it turned out. I really did work 10-15 hours a day on this project for a couple of months and lost my mind a few times....but it was well worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Thanks for posting those pictures, excellent. It feels really good to see the event and know it worked out well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcat Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 is was great Rob, i dont know how you did it. Hey... I'm in one of Ravi's pic. I'm the one with the green hat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 hey madcat, thanks for coming out! Sorry I was so busy, I could barely even say hi to people. We really had a great turnout. About 1,000 people total (I have some huge group photos to post soon!) and about 15-20 members of this forum! I felt great the day of the event and now I have a cold so I'll be lying around for a few days. Thanks to all who attended and thanks for the support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crystal Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Thanks for posting the pics Ravi , yay! Looks amazing. And Robert, take it easy and take care of that cold . You certainly have earned a break, good job on it all . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odidnetne Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Looks like an amazing day. The long sleeved shirt was the first thing I noticed too, if you make more I might have to get my hands on one or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 I have photos with like 500 people in the expo at once and I'll post them soon I'm getting over my cold and I'll post them soon Brendan is still here so we're doing Vega stuff as well. It was really really really awesome! Seriously, there were 1000 vegans and it was one of the greatest events I've been to, even though I was too busy and stressed to enjoy most of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EatRaw Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Congratulations on putting together such a great event! I wish I could have been there. You are all an inspiration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveliberate Posted November 22, 2006 Share Posted November 22, 2006 VHF-06 was definitely awesome! Thanks to Robert, Ravi, DV, the NW-Veg crew & all of the other folks who worked to make this event such a terrific success! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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