From A Vegan Guide To Bristol 2005.

The 2004 Bristol Vegan Fayre was held at the L. Shed on Saturday October 30th, and was a spectacular success by anyone’s standards. Well over five thousand people visited the show over the day, and there were more than 80 businesses, organisations and charities representing every aspect of the vegan lifestyle. A unique balance of entertainment, education and an excellent range of vegan items helped make this the world’s biggest and best event of its kind. People came from not only across the UK but even across the pond from the USA to soak up the atmosphere at what was unquestionably a brilliant day out.

There was a superb range of speakers and entertainers present, and the emphasis was definitely on a fun day out for the family, with a huge array of free vegan food to try. With entry free, as well as prizes to be won, the event was a massive bargain for the public - and worth all the hard work that went into the event from the organisers Yaoh and Viva!. The show was sponsored by four firms - Health Unlimited, Wild Oats Wholefoods, Essential and Beanies Health Foods, who all committed considerable resources in terms of funding and promotion.

And the show was a sell-out a month before the event with a real quality line up of stallholders, all unique in their own right and all keen as mustard to support the show.

One of the beauties of an event like this is the whole hearted support from a large number of individuals that extends way and beyond the organisers, sponsors and stallholders, and it is these people who deserve the real thanks and praise for the success of the event, because their hard work and commitment often goes unnoticed and unrewarded. The Bristol Vegan Fayre 2004 was a real people’s celebration in the true spirit of the concept, and it is of huge credit to the community in general that we are able to come together in such a fasion and in such numbers to celebrate what is fast becoming the UK’s number one lifestyle. There was a genuine ‘Complementary not Competition’ attitude from all the traders, with (nearly) everyone on the same tip, seeing the sense of making each other look good as well as themselves - again, a unique feature amongst shows in the UK, and one that Bristol is justifiably proud of and keen to maintain.

The event followed on from the success of the first Britol Vegan Fayre, held on November 1st 2003 in the Watershed, and organised by Yaoh and some of the leading Bristol traders, and sponsored by Redwood. Approximately 1500 people attended that event, with 40 stallholders and a dozen talkers and entertainers. The 2005 show will be at the L. Shed again, on Saturday 29th October 2005, organised by Yaoh, and sponsored by Wild Oats, Health Unlimited, Essential, Beanie’s, Plamil, Earthbound, and The Vegan Society.. Special guests are The Bristol Cancer Help Centre and Vegfam, who will both be exhibiting at the show. Entry will be free.

A big thanks to all those who helped on the show, in particular Rob, Julie and Fred, Seb, Sean and Zak from Yaoh, Robbie, Pete and Ritchie, Mandy and Dave, Dawn and Colin. The Wild Oats team, Essential, Beanie’s, Health Unlimited, all the people at Vival (especially Angie) Sally and Robbie, Andy and the L.Shed people, Venue magazine (especially Darry), The Spark, Jay the last minute sparky (who won the Bacon Buttie award) The Cleaning Co. Cp. Gareth Zeal and his gorgeous hound (and his nipper) Ace the PA man, Jill Swyers, Pat and Martin, Nick our top drawer graphic designer, Matty the IT expert, the Brummie fella Dave who got the coach together, and all of you who kindly gave up their time and energy to help on the show. Appreciated.

Timbo