Vegan From The Ville: April 2019

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Experience from first ever Bakersfield Vegan Fest

Saturday, April 20th was the first ever Bakersfield Vegan Fest. The event was held on the east side of Bakersfield and shared space with the Haggin Oaks Farmers Market.I love the fact that all the vegan vendors were local to the Bakersfield area. Unfortunately since the event was sharing space with the regular farmer's market, it wasn't a complete vegan event. Upon arriving at the event, I realized that all the vegan vendors were on one side of the farmer's market, so I decided to just focus on see what was offered and having a good time.

Below are photos of the food I ate as well as a photo of meeting two vegan friends (a mom and daughter duo) who live in Bakersfield and a tee shirt I bought to celebrate this first time event. This was a good first effort to introduce veganism and vegan food to non-vegans and I'm excited about what other types of vegan events will be done in the future.

Brunch Purepa from Vida Vegan Co.

Vegan chocolate chip cookie from Better Bowls

Mambo Italiano vegan pizza from Bakersfield Pizza Company

Vegan volcano roll sushi from Solfood

Grilled veggies by Freddie_rec

Me with vegan mom and daughter duo at vegan fest

Vegan Fest T Shirt

40th Birthday Celebration and Race Recap: Bridge Street Half Marathon

On Monday, April 8th, I turned 40 years old. I celebrated reaching this milestone by returning to my hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, having a joint 40th birthday party with my best friend since 7th grade, and running a half marathon.

Best Friend and me celebrating turning 40 this year

Me with my sister (and mom behind us waving) at 40th birthday party

This was an exciting time because this race was the first time my family would get a chance to see me run. Although my mom and sister we're able to able to attend my race due to a prior engagement, my dad did show up so I definitely felt supported by my family. Also, while at the race, I met a wonderful group of ladies from the Black Girls Run Greater Huntsville Chapter. For me, I'm always excited when I see other black women at running events because it reminds me that I'm not alone in working towards improving myself through running. It was a great half marathon which was fairly flat, the weather was good and I can now say that I've run a race in my hometown.