Veggie Pride Parade NYC 2010 a roaring success

The Third Annual Veggie Pride Parade NYC 2010 was a rip-roaring success. Nearly a thousand people marched in the streets of Greenwich Village on May 16, 2010, for compassion, for environmental sanity, and for health awareness. Our numbers easily swelled to 1,500 once we reached Union Square Park (north end), the end-point for the parade and location of the vegan-happy rally & expo. There, costume-wearing vegan-proud individuals were treated to a dozen inspiring speeches, 38 noncommercial exhibitors, cart-loads of free vegan food, live entertainment, as well as heartfelt exhortations from people at the soapbox testimonial station. Click HERE to go to the Veggie Pride Parade Web site, where you can view images, videos, a listing of media posts, and lots lots more. Bookmark the site, because we plan to post huge amounts of content over the weeks to come.

A slight change of plans, but we're happy for that

Due to scheduled construction at Washington Square Park (Teen Plaza), THE VEGGIE PRIDE PARADE has been bumped, but we like the situation just fine! The end point for the May 17, 2009 parade will be Union Square Park (north end) instead. See and click image at left to see where we will be in the park. (Of course, the Green Market, shown in the image, will not be there the day we set up.)

This is a spectacularly excellent development, and, it happens, we got the venue plopped right in our lap.

There also is construction going on now right at this, the Union Square, location, but it will be finished well before May 17, we have been assured by Sarah Frazier of NYC Parks. We will be one of the first groups to get to use the renovated area. Ultimately, it should be downright lovely! But more than this, we'll be able to have all the noise and participants we want. Washington Square Park actually has strict limits on noise level and crowd size. We surely are going to be much bigger this year and years to come, so we'll need the extra elbow room.

To be or not to be, commercial that is

The park permit (Washington Square Park) for the post-parade rally held by the VivaVegie Society, the sponsoring nonprofit organization of the FIRST VEGGIE PRIDE PARADE IN AMERICA, May 18, 2008, Greenwich Village, New York City, has so far been designated as "GENERAL." This means NOTHING COMMERCIAL (or only minimally so) can go on at the rally.

In order for commercial activities to take place, the city would need to be paid a minimum fee of $11,000. The organizers have not ruled out going for the commercial option. The veg'n lifestyle is, of course, essentially a comsumer choice. Those companies from whom veg'ns purchase their veggie consumer products should probably have a presence at the post-parade park rally. The rally will present commercial vendors invaluable opportunities to promote their products and services if the organizers choose to cover the city's big fee.

It is entirely possible that the money can be found. In exchange for funds, the rally can provide banner space up in the front of the stage. If you are interested in becoming such a sponsor, click HERE (pamela@vivavegie.org) to contact account manager Pamela Rice.