Category Archives: Rochester NY VegFest

Food & Drink Offerings at Rochester VegFest 2025 🍴🌱

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What’s VegFest without amazing food and drink? This year’s festival will feature everything from refreshing beverages and frozen treats to hearty hot meals and artisanal packaged goods you can take home.

Drinks & Refreshments

  • B+ Healthy Fresh Food Market – Juices, detox shots, fresh fruit cups.
  • Frio’s Pops – Dairy-free frozen fruit pops (strawberry mango, blackberry ginger lemonade, pink lemonade, pickle + more).
  • Happy Earth Tea – Organic tea and herbal blends.
  • LemonLove Lemonade – Specialty lemonade, squeezed fresh on site.
  • Love Fern Lemonade – Fresh-squeezed lemonades, limeades, orange-aids, dirty sodas, and citrus fizz.
  • TiA Coffee – Freshly brewed coffee and roasted beans.

Hot Food Offerings

  • Grass Fed Vegan Butcher – Seitan sandwiches.
  • Hollycake House – Vegan breakfast sandwiches, cinnamon buns, cookies, scones, brownies, muffins.
  • Moonshadow Kitchen – Cheesesteaks, spiedies, birria tacos, garbage-style plates (all vegan + gluten free).
  • Neno’s Mexican – All-vegan tacos, burritos, and elote.
  • Philomina’s – Prepared vegan dishes (cold foods and beverages).
  • Polska Chata – Vegan hot food (menu TBD).
  • Sunshine Vegan Eats – Mac and cheese, vegan hoagies, jerk “cheesesteak,” yams, greens, and Nikki Special combo.
  • The Veg-E-Table – Rasta pasta and sea moss.

Prepared & Packaged Foods

  • Bravely By Jax – Cashew butter (flavors: vanilla bean, cacao, almond crunch, chocolate chip cookie).
  • F. Oliver’s – Olive oils and balsamic vinegars.
  • Flint’s Maple – Maple syrup, infused syrups, sauces, mustards, lemonades, mixes, and spices.
  • Junebar – Vegan, oil-free nutrition bars.
  • Long Weekend Bake Shop – Packaged vegan cookies and baked goods (with gluten-free options).
  • Lorenz Farms – Black garlic purée, smoked black garlic, dressings.
  • Once Again – Organic vegan nut butters and graham crackers.
  • Rochester Kettle Corn – Vegan kettle corn and drinks.
  • Spirit and Abundance – Plant-based cheeses, ferments, condiments.
  • The Fun Guys – Fresh mushrooms and mushroom burgers.
  • The Spice Project – Handcrafted spices, blends, and trail mixes.
  • The Vegan Pantry – Stickers, bags, snacks, nut butters.

Come Hungry, Leave Inspired

From fresh fruits and cold drinks to soul-warming comfort food and one-of-a-kind vegan products, VegFest 2025 has something for every appetite. Come explore, sample, and support the incredible plant-based businesses that make our community thrive!

See the full vendor lineup for 2025: https://rocvegfestny.org/exhibitors/

Rissa The Righter at Rochester VegFest 2025

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“Revealing Inner Greatness to Empower Rightness”

Rissa the Righter is a multi-talented musician, songwriter, and performer dedicated to creating music with purpose. With a background in orchestra and experience playing multiple instruments, Rissa writes and performs all her own music—blending artistry with authenticity. She has shared the stage with artists such as LaRussell and AJ McQueen, captivating audiences with her powerful presence and meaningful lyrics.

A year and a half ago, Rissa chose to give up eating meat, aligning her lifestyle with her mission: The Righter Way—a movement centered on embracing our greatness, empowering righteousness, and living authentically without harming ourselves, others, or the world around us.

Catch Rissa The Righter Live at Rochester VegFest 2025

🕚 1:00 PM–1:45 PM
📍Speaker Tent, Parcel 5 – Downtown Rochester

Explore Rissa’s work:

VegFest 2025 T-Shirts

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Sorry, pre-ordering is now closed.

Please swing by the VegFest tent on August 24th to buy from available stock there!

We’re thrilled to team up once again with local artist Julia Jones of Nearby Design for this year’s VegFest shirt. The adorable design features our pig mascot celebrating this year’s theme: “Compassion in Action”.

  • Color: Carolina Blue
  • Styles: Relaxed, Fitted
  • Price: $20 each

Volunteers receive one free! All shirts will be available for pickup at the VegFest booth on festival day. A limited number will also be available for purchase at the event — but pre-ordering is the only way to guarantee your size.

Relaxed
Fitted

Ali Lawrence at Rochester VegFest 2025

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Founder of Spirit & Abundance

Ali Lawrence, Spirit & Abundance

Ali is the founder of Spirit & Abundance, a small business crafting plant based cheese and ferments in the city of Rochester. A graduate from the Culinary Institute of America and Cornell University with over 15 years of experience in the kitchen, Ali is dedicated to sharing how to cook living, plant based food along with cultured and fermented creations.

For more information, visit Ali’s website.

Catch Ali Lawrence at Rochester VegFest 2025

🎤 3:30–4:30 PM – Rochester Vegan Entrepreneurs Panel
📍 Speaker Tent, Parcel 5 – Downtown Rochester

ROB.DOE & DJ IMPOZIBLE at Rochester VegFest 2025

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Hip-Hop Artist & Affirmation Music Creator

ROB.DOE is a Rochester-based musical artist known for blending raw lyricism with uplifting, affirmational themes. Describing himself as the “ULTIMATE LIFE FORM,” he uses his music to spread positivity, empowerment, and healing through high-vibration sound.

His discography includes tracks like “Life Cost,” “TRUE STORY” featuring Kito Dash, and “BETTER DAYS” featuring Kj Sausin. His song “Prevail Over Pain” exemplifies his commitment to affirmation music, aiming to inspire listeners to overcome challenges.

Active on all platforms, ROB.DOE engages with his audience through both music and social media. On TikTok, he shares content that resonates with his themes of positivity and resilience.

Catch ROB.DOE & DJ IMPOZIBLE at Rochester VegFest 2025

🕐 2:40–3:25 PM
📍 Main Stage at Parcel 5 – Downtown Rochester

Explore ROB.DOE’s music and content:

Sage Bava at Rochester VegFest 2025

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Artist, Activist & “Bad Ass Vegan Advocate”

Sage Bava is a genre-defying musician, writer, and activist whose work blends soulful jazz, R&B, and poetic storytelling with a deep commitment to animal rights and environmental justice. Raised on an animal rescue and nature preserve in upstate New York, she adopted the moniker BAVA—an acronym for “Bad Ass Vegan Advocate”—to honor her roots and amplify her mission to speak for the voiceless.

A multi-instrumentalist and composer, Sage’s debut album In Whose Eyes was co-produced with four-time Grammy winner Larry Klein and features acclaimed artists including Christian McBride and Braxton Cook. The album, which weaves together jazz, R&B, and singer-songwriter elements, explores the question: “In whose eyes do we uncover ourselves?” Both the opening and closing tracks serve as environmental anthems, reconnecting listeners with their primal bond to the natural world.

Sage’s journey has taken her across the globe—from acting in London to traveling solo through Europe with nothing but a backpack and guitar. She holds a master’s degree in production from Berklee and is currently studying the psychology of spirituality at Columbia University. Her writing has been featured in Forbes, The Times Center, and TEDx, and she co-hosts the iHeart podcast In Service Of.

Catch Sage Bava Live at Rochester VegFest 2025

🕚 11:20 AM–12:05 PM
📍Speaker Tent, Parcel 5 – Downtown Rochester

Experience a soulful set from one of today’s most thoughtful and justice-driven musical voices.

Explore Sage’s work:

Free Yoga with Niki Januzzi at Rochester VegFest 2025

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Start Your Day with Movement, Breath & Intention

We’re kicking off VegFest 2025 with a free, all-levels yoga session led by local instructor Niki Januzzi of Yoga Love of Honeoye Falls.

Niki’s journey to yoga began with her background in dance, which naturally drew her to the practice’s flow and movement. After first exploring yoga in 2001, she deepened her practice in 2006 while navigating health challenges, experiencing firsthand the benefits for both body and mind. In 2010, she completed her Vinyasa teacher training at Sonic Yoga in Manhattan and has been sharing her love of yoga with the Honeoye Falls community ever since.

Her classes blend graceful movement with mindful alignment, offering an inviting space to reconnect, restore, and start the day feeling balanced and energized.

Yoga Session Details

🕙 10:00–10:45 AM
📍 Yoga Tent at Parcel 5 – Downtown Rochester (Exact location will be marked at the event)
🧘 Open to all levels of practice
🧺 BYOM – Bring Your Own Mat (Mats will not be provided)

To learn more about Niki and her classes, visit Yoga Love of Honeoye Falls.

Rochester Vegan Entrepreneurs Panel at VegFest 2025

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A Conversation on Community, Creativity, and Plant-Based Business

As part of this year’s “Compassion in Action: Eat Plants! Save the Planet!” theme, we’re proud to feature the Rochester Vegan Entrepreneurs Panel—a conversation with local founders who are building businesses rooted in ethics, sustainability, and bold creativity.

These inspiring entrepreneurs are proof that plant-based innovation can drive not only delicious food but meaningful change. From reimagined comfort foods to guilt-free indulgences and small-batch vegan cheese and ferments, each panelist brings a unique voice to the growing movement for conscious business and compassionate living.

The panel will feature:

Natasha Siplin

Founder of Soulistic Sweets, a beloved vegan bakery offering cruelty-free desserts made with love from the soul.

Rob Nipe

Co-Founder & Vegan Butcher at Grass Fed, Rochester’s neighborhood vegan butcher shop and deli.

Kaptah Xi-Amaru

Owner of B+Healthy Fresh Food Market, a family-friendly spot for smoothies, juices, wraps, and salads, with vegan options.

Ali Lawrence

Founder of Spirit & Abundance, with over 15 years experience crafting plant based cheese and ferments in the city of Rochester.

Moderator, Dan Schrack

Morning anchor at 13WHAM News and committed vegan with a passion for storytelling and community engagement.

Panel Details

🕞 3:30–4:30 PM
📍 Speaker Tent at Parcel 5 – Downtown Rochester

Come hear what drives these entrepreneurs, what they’ve learned along the way, and how they’re using their platforms to make plant-based living more accessible, joyful, and impactful.