Hello everyone, my name is Ryan and you're listening to The Vegan Report.
If you're vegan for the animals and you care to do more for animal rights, but you're not sure
where to start, then this podcast is for you. Every week, let yourself fall in love with
passionate animal rights leaders who will inspire you to find your voice, your own special
contribution to the animal rights movement, however small or big it is. Today, we are going
to talk about the Vegan Festival of Montreal. Years ago, when I first visited the big convention
center where the event is held, I felt like a little kid in a toy store, or like if I had entered
Vegan Hogwarts, or a better analogy would be like a comic con for veganism. What did I see? More
like what did I taste? I remember visiting the food stands of all my favourite vegan brands,
but in addition to food for the stomach, there was food for the heart, and by that I mean there were
so many vegan organizations represented, and the opportunity to talk with activists
energized my commitment for animal rights. I remember thinking, the person who had the idea
of creating this event is a genius. Not only is it beneficial for vegans, giving us an occasion to
gather, meet new vegans, refresh our commitment to the cause, or just feel the pleasure of knowing
that all the food was vegan. No need to read and decipher the small food labels. Not only
that, but this was the best way to advocate for veganism. Forget about arguing with people,
just bring them to the Vegan Festival. Show them the diversity and richness of vegan food. Let them
meet vegans, and notice how we are ordinary people, and not a bunch of new age hippies extremists.
Let them have heart to heart conversations with rescuers and other activists, and all of that
in a happy and fun atmosphere. My wish is that, if you're listening to this, you feel like visiting
Montreal and being present for our annual vegan festival. Yes, put that in your bucket list,
but more than that, I wish that more vegan festivals, large or small, appear across the
world, because I wholeheartedly believe that this is one of the best ways to represent the vegan
cause. So maybe this episode will make you want to create your own little version of the vegan
festival for your family, your neighborhood, or your city. To talk about this, I have none other
than the founder and president of the Vegan Festival of Montreal, Louis-Alexandre Gagnon.
Welcome to the podcast. Nice to be here. Well, Louis-Alexandre, could you please introduce
yourself and talk about your role in organizing the Vegan Festival? Okay, my name is Louis-Alexandre
Gagnon. I founded the Montreal Vegan Festival about 10 years ago. I wasn't always the president.
I used to be secretary general, so I would take notes of the meetings and stuff like that.
And slowly, well, first it was an event organized by the Montreal Vegetarian Association.
Then at some point, the NBA decided not to produce the festival anymore. So that's when I
kind of took over or took charge of the festival itself. So we registered the festival as a
nonprofit. And then I was president first year. The second year, there was another president.
And then I came back and I mostly take care of the volunteers. We have about 20 volunteers that are
working year round on the festival. I'm a volunteer too. And I make sure that no blank
spots are not taken care of. So it's a lot of work. How many hours of work?
Oh, I don't know. I'm not counting. Wow. Yeah. And would you say that most of the people working to
create the Vegan Festival, launch it every year, are volunteers?
Yes, we have volunteers. We have subcontractors for some things, but it's like the
press relations, we hire someone to do that. But other than that, most of it is volunteer.
And it takes a few hours a week. It's not like it's taking... It's like if you do it bit by bit,
a little by little, if you do a little amount of hours each week, you get a lot of work.
So I guess the secret is to start in advance, like many months in advance.
Yeah, I started the project like two years in advance. And I started looking for venues,
looking for people to take care of it and help to do it. So it took a while before we
put up the team and we were able to do it in 2014. So yes, I started
working on the project in 2012. Wow. Well, this is very impressive. I did not realize that this was
an initiative basically held by volunteers. I want to understand how did you
come up with this idea? But most importantly, how does someone who I guess you grew up
in a normal family, not a vegetarian family, so you grew up eating meat, not being
really interested by animal welfare, but then at some point you decided to become vegan,
which is a common story relatively speaking. But how do you go from coming from a normal context,
eating meat, not being that interested in animal welfare, to being vegan, to then launching this
initiative? So can you tell us more about your vegan journey?
Yes. Well, first I wanted to be vegetarian as a kid because we went to
an educational farm when I was around nine or 10 or eight or nine. I think I was nine.
And then I came home and I asked my parents, hey, I want to be vegetarian. And they said no.
You're going to be vegetarian if you want to when you're an adult. In the meantime,
we're not going to do a vegetarian meal for you and something else for the whole family. So
I started being interested in animals at a pretty young age.
Actually, and then I went into, I'd say sleep mode. So I just lived normally eating meat and stuff
like that. But I didn't really like it. And at some point I said, okay, I've had enough. And
I said to myself that I wanted to be, well, somebody told me that there were people that
weren't eating eggs or dairy and stuff like that. And they would call them macrubetic at some point.
And I said, okay, I'm going to be vegetarian. And they said, okay, I'm going to be vegetarian.
And they would call them macrubetic at some point. But a few years after that,
that's when I decided I wanted to quit dairy, eggs, meat, all together. I thought, well,
I'm not going to participate anymore in animal exploitation.
So that was when I was 22. 22. And what year was that? That was 1994. Wow. So it was a while ago.
And I must tell that I had a vegetarian phase after that because because of lack of support.
And I said, maybe my will wasn't strong enough at that time. And then I decided to become vegan
again. And so it was a bumpy ride. I mean, who could blame you? This was 1994. I guess, most of
the it wasn't easy. I know people that are vegan since the 80s. And the the the I don't know how
the they have done it, but they're still vegan to get today. And I don't think they have been
vegetarian for a long time. Yeah, I knew I talked with someone who became vegan in the 1980s. But
he explained to me that he had the great luck of living near like a natural products boutique,
and they had lots of things like tofu or milk made from plants and stuff like that, that you
wouldn't find in any other place. So how was that decision? How the people around you found
how the people around you friends, family reacted to your decision to just completely stop eating,
not even, you know, dairy and eggs completely. They stopped inviting me to barbecues and stuff
like that. This is horrible. Yeah. And I must say, I started losing interest in
in in inviting them as well, you know, because I was afraid that they they wouldn't
like or be interested in eating a vegan meal for a gathering, you know.
That must have been tough. You know, when you talk about the lack of support, I guess,
that's part of the problem and why you had that. Yeah, I started eating cheese again,
because my mom said, Hey, I have some cheese now. It was too tough, too difficult. And, you know,
you know, nobody's like you and stuff. Stop being so finicky. And so I started then being vegetarian
was a lot easier because you don't have to read all the ingredients. Okay, you avoid meat. That's
easy. And then you can eat muffins with eggs and then more dairy and stuff like that. So I wouldn't
mind checking that eating that for a while. And then I thought to myself, well, these animals,
they end up being meat anyways. So that that's how I started being vegan again.
And when you think back about those years, and look at now all the choices we have,
if you want to transition to a vegan diet, in the supermarket, you have so many mock meat and so many
delicious products that are vegan. Are you like pleasantly surprised? Did you think that
this many products were going to pop up and? No, no, no, I wasn't. I didn't think this this would
happen. Of course, there were some mock meats and stuff like that back in the days there was
Eve and I think there was a Natura for the soy milk and they're still there. And maybe I'm surprised
they're still there because there's so much competition now. Yeah, this was my entry to
to veganism, you know, Santive on this is like a very popular brand. This was my entry, but now I
just I don't I never purchase anything that comes from Santive. There are so many better options.
So I understand that that thought process. So what do you say to people who nowadays become vegan,
but decide to abandon their diet or come back to eating meat? Why do you think they
they have that hesitation or they go back on their commitment?
Like we have that so much support and so many like we have a big community now. So why do you think
people still abandon the diet? Oh, I don't know. I haven't met
lots of people that I've I've met some some people that I've gone back to being vegetarian
because it's easier when they travel. But I know that the when they're home, they're eating vegan
and when they go outside, they're sort of flexible. But I haven't heard about vegans going back to
eating meat that I haven't encountered. So I don't know what I would say to them, but maybe that I
don't know. Well, yeah, I mean, that's a question I often have because I'm online. I'm present,
you know, virtually. And there are so many videos of people talking about how they are ex vegans
now and how they they had to abandon that diet. And they often quote, you know, health reasons, but
it's a bit doubtful, you know. Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe they they don't have access to
I would say compassionate physician, but somebody that as health professional that
let's them because I had a medicine for me. Family doctor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And she was
okay with me being vegan. She just told me, well, at some point, I had anemia in B 12. So I started
taking B 12. And now it's okay. I wonder if there are any initiatives out there targeting health
professionals and talking with them about how veganism is when it is well balanced and planned
is a healthy diet. Because I see a lot of nutritionists, you know, targeting the public,
but I don't see many targeting, you know, health care professionals. So I wonder if that initiative
exists out there. Oh, there's a there used to be something in Quebec called the name. What was it
called? It was health professionals for plant based diet or something like that. It was a
it was in French, of course. The name was the profession and the last thing that says
I saw the profanity that profession and the last thing for an imitation vegetal.
The association of health care professionals for a vegan diet. Yeah. Yes. And that existed. That was
launched a few years ago, but I don't know how it ended and how it is today. But I know that that's
a group of professionals that existed. And I hope it still exists. And I think that's a good
thing. And I hope it still exists. They used to have a booth at the vegan festival at some point.
Yeah, I will check. I'll check them out. Yeah, it's it was called a PSAV. That was the acronym.
And and so now you're vegan. If we go back in time, you're vegan. How did it? How did you make the
transition from just being vegan in your everyday life to actually doing activism work? Well, I was
feeling lonely and I wanted to meet other vegans. But at the time I was vegetarian and I wanted to
meet whatever like vegans and vegetarians. I had been a vegan. So I was more curious about the vegans.
And so I started the MVA. And I started the Montreal Vegetarian Association because
the internet was
coming. And I mean, internet was there. And they were websites. I think I thought
I found the website of the IVU, the International Vegetarian Union.
And there were like vegetarian societies in lots of cities. And I thought, well,
would be nice if we'd have that in Montreal. And that's how I started
trying to get people together to talk about veganism and and how to do it and how to end
and to do social activities. And so that that's how I got the idea. Because I saw that in other
cities, they were doing it. So I thought, well, nobody's doing it in Montreal. So I might as well
trying and do it myself with some other fellow vegans. That's amazing. And I always say to
people who feel lonely, go and volunteer for a good cause. You will stop feeling lonely. You will
meet other people and good people. And you also feel good about yourself doing something that
matters. So, yeah, I think this was a great instinct. And I did not realize that you were
the one who founded the Vegetarian Association of Montreal. Yes, so not doing much today, but
I started it and that that led to the the the the foundation of the the the vegan festival.
Well, I'm impressed more so than the beginning of this podcast. Yeah, I mean, I love the
membership program. It allows you to have discounts for vegan and vegetarian recipes.
Discounts for vegan and vegetarian restaurants across Montreal. So it's it's great. I love that
about them. So let's go back to the vegan festival of Montreal. When did you first have the idea and
what made you think about creating a vegan festival? I had the idea because I went to
another festival in another city, which was Toronto. And in Toronto, they have this,
they have a veg fest and they've had it for a lot of years. And first, I had thought, oh,
we're going to do a veg fest in Montreal. And then we had a, I got people together and we all
agreed that, well, veg fest is something but the vegan festival would be better. So we we agreed
that it would have the vegan label instead of being general and bedchast and like promoting the
the vegan lifestyle by using the veg word. It works, but we decided to go up a notch.
Yeah, because it could mean, you know, vegetarian, it could mean, you know, a festival about health.
But when you say that you're the vegan festival, you're targeting truly, you know, vegan people
and vegan food. And you're talking about the ethical treatment of animals. And then that was
when was it back in 2015? 12? I visited Toronto in the maybe it was 2006 or seven or in 2008. I
went up to Germany for the IVU Congress. And so I've seen that that were the two festivals that
I've seen. And I know some people that I met went to some veg fests in the state of New York or
Vermont and stuff like that, maybe at Boston. And so I had help from people that I've seen other
festivals too. Yeah. So it took a lot of years before you started the first, you know, concrete
steps to to establish the vegan festival. Yeah, we had to to build a community, I'd say.
It's like a network of people that would like to work together for a common objective.
Nowadays, people, you know, I see a lot of people mostly in my generation, you know, doing small
efforts for like a month or two, and then they get discouraged because it doesn't, it's not their
efforts are not fruitful. They're not making a difference. But you're an example of truly
perseverance. And what would you say to the people who feel discouraged about the fact that
who feel discouraged about their activism efforts, and who feel like it's not making a difference?
Yeah, what would you say to to them?
Well, if they get tired, do rest, you know, it's like I do my some kind of activism doing the
festival. So I do it. But sometimes I have to stop and do something else. So I would say,
yes, if you want to quit, quit, but come back. It's like, if you feel bad, maybe you should do
something you enjoy for a few weeks and then come back and you don't have to do it like every day.
Like I see the anonymous for the voiceless here in Montreal, they do it once a week. So
their cube of truth. Yeah, if they would do it every day, I'm pretty sure they would get tired.
And that, that I don't know, I think to to do some some state sustainable activism or
sustainable action in in whatever area you're doing it, you have to take some breaks.
And I say it's like, it's like diving, you have to come up and breathe.
That's such a great analogy. And that's such a great advice to Yeah, I think some people feel
guilty about resting. They're like, Oh, but this is not what I should be doing. Have you ever felt
that guilt? And do you have the advice to to manage that? Oh, well,
that's a tough question because a guilt.
If you're not looking after yourself, and you know, it can go up to being so discouraged,
it can go to suicide, I guess. If people feel so guilty, and they're not making a
difference, and they get so discouraged, you have to take care of yourself first. And just
just the vegan diet is something that's good for yourself. And
resting, the only sports I do is walking. And taking long walks around Montreal, that that what
makes me like, not disconnect, but take time for myself.
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. Yeah, take some time to work out or to find some time to
work out or do physical activities and think of see some friends, even non vegans.
Even if it kind of hurts when they don't agree with you, but you can see them without
going to the restaurant with them. You can go and see them and just talk and walk and
and have an enjoyable time. Not only with vegans, it's, if you cut yourself from the whole society,
it can get lonesome.
Well, and like you said, you're vegan. So at least you're making an impact by just
having chosen to become vegan. So you should feel good about that, at least that. So yeah,
it's a good point. And most people are not even vegan. So you know, you're someone doing
something incredible, and you're part of a minority. So you should genuinely feel good about this.
Yes. So okay, you're establishing a network of people for many years, then what was the next step?
Oh, getting the money. Some, some doctor gave money to the MBA. And that's how we
got this little push to do the the first festival. And can I ask how much was that?
Oh, it was, it wasn't that much. It was $10,000. And he lent, he lent it to the the MBA. So we,
we reimbursed him. And that's what helped us do it. And then you had to so we were we were very
lucky. Because if it wouldn't have been for this long, I don't know when the first vegan festival
would have taken place. That's amazing. And if in the unlikely chance that this doctor is listening
to this podcast, thank you so much for that. Thank you so much for your for lending that money. So
then, when was, when did you realize that this project is going to be a big success?
Did you realize that this project is going to get started is going to
to be concretized to be, you know, to happen, this is going to happen, actually,
was it when you rented the the venue? Was it when you first had your first partner for your
for the festival? When was that moment? That was about in 2013, about a year before the festival,
we had this first meeting. And we were like, 2025, vegans looking to make it happen. And I thought,
and I thought, okay, we're a good team. Now, I think it's gonna happen. And I, I think at this
time, at this point, we didn't know about the $10,000. But still, we were enthused, and we were
ready to tackle the challenge. And how did you feel? Did you feel excited, fearful? All of the
involved? Mostly excited. I wasn't apprehensive of it not being successful or, and even after the
first festival, we were greatly surprised. We thought we would have 500 visitors or something
like that, and we had 5000 the first year. So we got really excited. And the rest is kind of history.
Wow. And then you had to get together again to organize the second edition. Sometimes, you know,
the first edition, you have the excitement, you're enthusiastic, you start. But then how can you make
sure that the vegan festival comes back every year? How can you make sure that your initiative
is not going to just, you know, it's going to end after just its first edition? Did you think about
that? Or did you make do something about it? Well, recently, the things that have been a little more
difficult, because the because of the pandemic, we didn't see it coming. And we thought, oh, well,
sky's the limit, we're gonna do this forever. But it's like last year, we we lost a little money.
And this year, we're we're don't know what's gonna happen. But we're searching hard for solutions.
And we're digging deep in our minds to get the solutions. Yeah, I guess it's all about creativity
and making the most of what you have. So when I don't think I mentioned it, but when is the
festival this year going to happen? Oh, it's gonna be on September 30 and October 1. Saturday and
Sunday. And where at the Palais des Congrés de Montréal? Yeah. And have you noticed throughout
the years, the impact of the festival? How did it maybe influence the vegan community?
Has it changed minds? Do you have stories of people saying, you know, I became interested
by veganism from, you know, visiting your festival? So yeah, I have people that have
told me that. But not a lot, surprisingly. But I know a few people that turned vegan because
of the festival. They came to the festival, they've seen some speech or talk or they
met with some activists and they changed their mind about animals. Well, they were already
curious if they came to the festival, but they had a de click. How do you say de click?
I guess a key moment. Yeah, yeah. So some people live that at the festival. Yes, they do. And
that makes me happy. Yeah. And I guess, you know, you haven't heard of a lot of people
because not everyone is super vocal about it. You know, I'm sure that there are plenty of others
who were convinced or something like that. And they just they did not mention it. Yeah, maybe.
But I've had a, I know a few people that were turned vegan by the festival and they
have told me personally that they changed their way of life because of the festival.
That's great. And what about the vegan community itself? Have you received, you know, do you know
stories of people meeting there, creating friendships, or starting something, you know,
an initiative from just visiting or networking in the context of the festival? Well, some of the
nonprofits that are that come to the festival, I know the some have tried and failed and some have
tried and now they tried. It's like anonymous for the voices is a good example that
came to the festival. And I think they were able to recruit and convince a lot of people to get on
their way of doing activism. And yeah, the nonprofits, they kind of profit from the
the festival. They attract people to their, like Refugees Arraye also have a big community now.
A few years ago, I think the owner was not left to herself, but she was struggling and
she needed help. And I think her coming to the festival, not only our festival, there was also
a festival in Ottawa, where she she is present, but she gets volunteers from the
being at the festival and showing what she's doing. So I think some little community communities
grow because of it.
And what about the companies? So not just the nonprofits, but the companies? I've discovered
many new brands, so vegan startups at the vegan festival. And I guess many of them think of the
vegan festival as a way to launch their their brand and present what they're doing. And yeah.
So do you know any successful business story? I think the first one is the vegan
story of startups, which launched at the festival.
Well, what I can think of the first I can think of is Gusta, I think they were like really small.
Small artisanal, what's the word for artisanal?
You know, it's a small artisan. Yeah. You know, hand making, I guess on a smaller scale, they were.
And I think they make mock meat. Is that it? Yeah, they make mock meat. They now make
some cheeses. They make fake tuna. They make they have a lot of products now and they're really
successful and they invested a lot in the festival. And I think that it paid off.
Yes, I remember one edition, they had this big, you know, it wasn't a booth. It was like a
almost a section of the convention where they were present. And I don't know if, you know,
international listeners can get Gusta products from their supermarket, but they're very good.
I love their sausages. Yeah.
And do you get also, you know, feedback from because part of the vegan festival is also
speakers. So vegan personalities who come give lectures or just demonstrations. I know you
organize a lot of activities with chef, for instance, battles between vegan chefs, which is
very entertaining. So how did that come about? And I think you also have an ambassador every year.
And this year it's Christian Ventura, who is a vegan chef. Yeah, very well known in Montreal.
He founded, I think, two restaurants, Momo Sushi and another one, which I forgot. Burger. Oh,
yeah. Burger, which I hate the name. I don't know why, but yeah, burger. So instead of the U,
you have the V. So how did the idea, where did the idea of inviting, you know, vegan personalities
come from? And has that become throughout the years, a bigger and bigger part of the festival's
experience? Well, this year, Christian is doing a lecture and a demo. So he's doing a lot. The other
years, we would have some chefs that would do demos or we had Looney, we had Jean-Philippe,
and we had Marc-Olivier Brouillette. Marc-Olivier Brouillette only did a lecture. So this year,
he's doing a lot. And we have the idea because it's more entertaining, I think, for the people
that to have a spokesperson than to have me doing the spokesperson part of the festival. So
some people are at ease with the public and they can communicate better than I can do
what veganism is about. And they have stories to tell also. They have their own story. And
I think to have someone new every year makes it more interesting than having
always the same person doing the spokesperson work.
And how did you first convince them? Or was it like them who wanted to
come and give lectures and participate? Or did you go and get them and convinced them?
We went after them. Yeah, we go after them. The first spokesperson we had was Jean-Philippe Sey,
and he was really excited. So we didn't have to twist his arm to convince him. He jumped right in
and it was a lot of fun. And he is a chef? Yeah, he is a trained chef. And
he has a blog. No, not a blog, but he has this Facebook page and he's kind of a...
Well, he's funny. He pulls the strings of humor with people. So he's funny.
He pulls the strings of humor with people. So, well, he does most of his communications in
French, but we like him a lot because he makes us laugh. Great. And he also recently he even
did some music where the music is humor and music at the same time. The music is good
and the humor is funny. So he's not coming to the festival this year, but we wish he
will be a visitor at least. Yeah, there are so many ways to
pass on the vegan message and represent the vegan cause. It doesn't have to be all serious,
all talks about horrible things, although it is important, but it can be comical. It can be
true songs. It can take many forms. Why not? So let's talk about this current year vegan
festival that will happen end of September, beginning of October. Can you give us some
highlights of this year's festival? Well, my favorite is going to be Sarah
Heiligtag. She's a philosopher. She comes from Switzerland and she started this movement called
the Transformation. It's a pun, but she's really transforming farms from the animal exploitation
to a vegan operation. So they can change the animal exploitation to become a farm sanctuary
or they can change pastures into places where they grow edible crops and stuff like that. So
she accompanies farmers that have a change of hearts and want to do a vegan change in their
life. Mostly it's young farmers that inherit the farm from their parents and they don't feel like
doing it the way they were doing it before. So she's going to do a talk. I'm really excited about
that. But she'll do a talk from a distance. She's going to be in Europe and she's going to be
through video at the festival. And there's also Anita Crank. You probably know her from the
animal save movement. And now she's going to do a talk about the plant-based treaty.
The city of Los Angeles signed the treaty. So that's pretty big. She's going to talk about
bringing the plant-based treaty to Quebec. We already tried to make the city of Montreal
sign the treaty, but they're not ready yet. But she's going to do a talk about the plant-based
treaty. Maybe if we insist, maybe they'll change their mind.
I love her idea so much. And actually, I worked on making Montreal a fair trade city. So there's a
certification, fair trade certification for cities. And I was on the committee working on getting
that certification for the city of Montreal. And it reminds me of the plant-based treaty.
It's a lot of work talking with politicians who are my favorite people in the world.
I'm being sarcastic now. But yeah, it's a lot of work. And what about the food? What about the
vegan food brands that will be present this year? Any favorites of yours?
There will be the usual that come every year. There's Parade Zee Vegetarienne that
comes. They're always there since the beginning. There's another new brand that's called Woupfor
that's going to be, that's going to make waves this year, I think. They are doing
fish imitation. So it's, I think that they have, I don't remember the exact fish, but I remember
the piranha. That's so funny. So I don't think anybody eats piranha. But they've come up with
some recipes of fish, probably seasoned with algae. So they invested a lot this year. They
want to launch their product in a big way. And I hope they do it. When I was an omnivore,
I didn't like fish. So I'm not saying this because I think I'm gonna like it. But I think people
will like it. Yes. I'm really excited about them and wanting to try their products. I haven't
tried their products yet. Because yeah, I used to love tuna. And they're really good. And I
love tuna. And also tapioca, I think. No, not tapioca. Tilapia. Exactly. I always mix up those
two words. Tilapia and tuna were some of my favorites. And of course salmon. But yeah,
this was another lifetime. Yeah, and Paradis Vegetarien, I have to say, you know, it's the
second time I'm talking about them in this podcast. But I absolutely love them. They're so great.
They're a small family and they have this mock meat business. And they import mock meat from Taiwan.
And it's just amazing. You know, the taste of that mock meat is just so great.
Anyone who's visiting Montreal should try their products. And what about the nonprofits that will
be present this year? Do you have any? Anita Crank is bringing the Plant Based Treaty. They're
gonna have a table. There's an organization that resembles Anonymous for the Oysters. It's called
We the Free. They're known to be sort of a copycat of Anonymous for the Oysters. But
they'll be there. Anonymous for the Oysters is going to be there. And Montreal Pig Save.
And we had sanctuaries registering too. We have a Saint-Soade-Alimo de Ferme-des-Lestries.
Safe and Refuge RR is also coming back this year. So that's nonprofits in a few words.
And I think you're... I've noticed how you're getting bigger and bigger with the coming...
with every edition. How many people do you expect to welcome this year?
We don't know yet. We hope to get 5,000 because last year it was our worst year.
We had 3,000 visitors and in 2018 we had 18,000. So pandemic hit us kind of hard.
And so we're hoping to get 5,000. But if we get 3,000, well, that's it. And we have surprises
for next year. We're going to change venue and we're going to bring back the restaurants.
And it's going to be much more exciting than Paris des Congrès.
Amazing. And yeah, it's the effect of the pandemic. I think every event business or cultural
business, anything that involves lots of people in one place has suffered from its repercussions.
And I'm sure that we'll see people with masks this year at the Vegan Festival.
So I know because when I visited your website in preparation for this interview,
I noticed how you have actually recommendations for international visitors.
You have a partnership with a hotel. I didn't know that people traveled to
visit the Vegan Festival of Montreal, but I'm not surprised. This is vegan tourism
and it's becoming more and more a thing. So would you like to talk about that a bit?
Well, we can see a map of where the tickets are sold every year with the Ticket Pro
backend of the site. And we know that we sold some tickets in British Columbia, California,
lots of them in Ontario, New Brunswick. I think we've also been contacted about someone from Alaska
that wanted to come to the festival. So people come from a long way to come to the festival.
And we have this partnership with Hôtel Montville until September 11th. You can get the $100
rebate for each night you stay during the week of the festival, but only until September 11th.
After that, it's high season for the fall colors. So it's a good deal, I think. It's $249 plus
$33 for the vegan breakfast. So it's $272 per night. So yes, you can probably find cheaper,
but you'll be a lot further from the festival and you'll have to take transit. Hôtel Montville is
five minutes away from the Palais des Congresses. I think they offer a good deal.
Yeah. And I will leave a link to the website of the vegan festival where you can find all of
those details and more. But I love that veganism is impacting other markets and other businesses,
including hotels. Yeah, they approached us to be the official hotel for the
festival. There's also a hostel that approached us this year, but it was too late. So we had already
signed the partnership with Hôtel Montville, but a hostel is something else. It's
a dorm. It's not the same experience.
And yeah, so I love that because those are all signs of success. And I think it's truly amazing.
So maybe we can end the conversation on that. Did you have something
more to say, something to add after this conversation?
I don't know. If you listen to this podcast, I hope you make it to the festival.
Like Ryan said, you can look at the website and see more details. The website is festivalvegandemontreal.com.
It's a dot com, but we're a nonprofit. So at some point we decided to be a dot com, but
we were really a nonprofit. And if you're at the festival, if you see me at the festival, you can
say hi and say that you've seen the podcast and that you recognize me. I'm approachable.
Well, I mean, be kind, but yeah, I'm going to also visit the festival and this will be an exciting
year. And I'm so happy that this event exists. So truly thank you very much for your work,
for creating that event and for being a guest on this podcast and taking the time to answer my
questions. My pleasure. Thank you everyone for listening. Louis-Alexandre Gagnon is one of those
vegan heroes who has given so much to the cause of animal rights. It was an honor to talk with him.
As mentioned, I will be present at the vegan festival of Montreal. In fact, I'm planning on
recording a special episode of my visit of the festival. I will be asking vegan entrepreneurs,
vegan activists, vegan chefs, the same question. What is the most convincing argument for veganism?
I wonder how people will answer. Don't miss out on that episode. Subscribe now and become a friend
of this show. As always, let me know if you liked this conversation, leave me a good review or reach
out to me on Instagram at vegan report podcast. Thank you again for listening. Take care and see
you next Tuesday for a new episode.