Greetings Vegan Travelers!
For those of you who may not be aware of this, the North American Vegetarian Society (www.navs-online.org) sponsors a Summerfest conference every year. It typically takes place in July. This year the dates run from July 7th to July 11th in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Those who wish to make this a long weekend getaway trip may do so by requesting accommodations for the event. As a proud member of their local chapter, the Boston Vegetarian Society, I am familiar with the organization’s main agenda of promoting a healthy, non-cruelty, animal-loving lifestyle. This yearly festival promotes good health and nutrition, while focusing on vegetarianism, veganism, eco-friendly living, and animal welfare.

The event consists of seminars on various health, nutrition, and animal rights topics. Well-known speakers in the vegan community such as Dr. Neal Barnard will give lectures on health and the vegan diet. Other popular speakers include Dr. Michael Greger, a perennial favorite who is always ahead of the times with his reporting on a variety of health concerns, their causes, and the vegan solutions to those medical issues. Specific topics to be discussed are cancer, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, and auto-immune diseases. Gene Bauer, co-founder of Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org) speaks about animal rescue and laws to protect animals from abuse in the food industry.

There will be cooking instruction and demos also. Gatherings for mingling with other like-minded individuals will include social hours for singles. Those who are solo may request to dine at a table set aside for singles. Outdoor activities and exercise including yoga, stargazing, walks and hikes. There will also be opportunities to watch films such as The Earthlings(www.earthlings.com) which reveals how much animals suffer cruelty at the expense of humans.

Meals are provided for lunch and dinner at the conference. Of course, the offerings are vegan. The menu is displayed on the Summerfest website. Exhibitors have tables to showcase their vegan and eco-friendly products. There is even entertainment provided so that participants can unwind each evening.

It is a highly recommended event for those wishing to immerse themselves in a healthy lifestyle, while keeping up to date on vegan nutrition topics and animal welfare information. As an added bonus, what could be better than spending a weekend with other animal-loving, like-minded new friends?!