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Hello everyone, my name is Ryan and you're listening to The Vegan Report.

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If you're vegan for the animals and you care to do more for animal rights, but you're not sure

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where to start, then this podcast is for you. Every week, let yourself fall in love with

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passionate animal rights leaders who will inspire you to find your voice, your own special

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contribution to the animal rights movement, however small or big it is. Today, we are going

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to talk about the Vegan Festival of Montreal. Years ago, when I first visited the big convention

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center where the event is held, I felt like a little kid in a toy store, or like if I had entered

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Vegan Hogwarts, or a better analogy would be like a comic con for veganism. What did I see? More

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like what did I taste? I remember visiting the food stands of all my favourite vegan brands,

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but in addition to food for the stomach, there was food for the heart, and by that I mean there were

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so many vegan organizations represented, and the opportunity to talk with activists

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energized my commitment for animal rights. I remember thinking, the person who had the idea

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of creating this event is a genius. Not only is it beneficial for vegans, giving us an occasion to

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gather, meet new vegans, refresh our commitment to the cause, or just feel the pleasure of knowing

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that all the food was vegan. No need to read and decipher the small food labels. Not only

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that, but this was the best way to advocate for veganism. Forget about arguing with people,

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just bring them to the Vegan Festival. Show them the diversity and richness of vegan food. Let them

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meet vegans, and notice how we are ordinary people, and not a bunch of new age hippies extremists.

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Let them have heart to heart conversations with rescuers and other activists, and all of that

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in a happy and fun atmosphere. My wish is that, if you're listening to this, you feel like visiting

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Montreal and being present for our annual vegan festival. Yes, put that in your bucket list,

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but more than that, I wish that more vegan festivals, large or small, appear across the

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world, because I wholeheartedly believe that this is one of the best ways to represent the vegan

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cause. So maybe this episode will make you want to create your own little version of the vegan

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festival for your family, your neighborhood, or your city. To talk about this, I have none other

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than the founder and president of the Vegan Festival of Montreal, Louis-Alexandre Gagnon.

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Welcome to the podcast. Nice to be here. Well, Louis-Alexandre, could you please introduce

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yourself and talk about your role in organizing the Vegan Festival? Okay, my name is Louis-Alexandre

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Gagnon. I founded the Montreal Vegan Festival about 10 years ago. I wasn't always the president.

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I used to be secretary general, so I would take notes of the meetings and stuff like that.

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And slowly, well, first it was an event organized by the Montreal Vegetarian Association.

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Then at some point, the NBA decided not to produce the festival anymore. So that's when I

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kind of took over or took charge of the festival itself. So we registered the festival as a

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nonprofit. And then I was president first year. The second year, there was another president.

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And then I came back and I mostly take care of the volunteers. We have about 20 volunteers that are

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working year round on the festival. I'm a volunteer too. And I make sure that no blank

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spots are not taken care of. So it's a lot of work. How many hours of work?

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Oh, I don't know. I'm not counting. Wow. Yeah. And would you say that most of the people working to

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create the Vegan Festival, launch it every year, are volunteers?

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Yes, we have volunteers. We have subcontractors for some things, but it's like the

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press relations, we hire someone to do that. But other than that, most of it is volunteer.

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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,

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a little by little, if you do a little amount of hours each week, you get a lot of work.

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So I guess the secret is to start in advance, like many months in advance.

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Yeah, I started the project like two years in advance. And I started looking for venues,

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looking for people to take care of it and help to do it. So it took a while before we

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put up the team and we were able to do it in 2014. So yes, I started

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working on the project in 2012. Wow. Well, this is very impressive. I did not realize that this was

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an initiative basically held by volunteers. I want to understand how did you

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come up with this idea? But most importantly, how does someone who I guess you grew up

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in a normal family, not a vegetarian family, so you grew up eating meat, not being

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really interested by animal welfare, but then at some point you decided to become vegan,

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which is a common story relatively speaking. But how do you go from coming from a normal context,

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eating meat, not being that interested in animal welfare, to being vegan, to then launching this

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initiative? So can you tell us more about your vegan journey?

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Yes. Well, first I wanted to be vegetarian as a kid because we went to

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an educational farm when I was around nine or 10 or eight or nine. I think I was nine.

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And then I came home and I asked my parents, hey, I want to be vegetarian. And they said no.

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You're going to be vegetarian if you want to when you're an adult. In the meantime,

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we're not going to do a vegetarian meal for you and something else for the whole family. So

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I started being interested in animals at a pretty young age.

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Actually, and then I went into, I'd say sleep mode. So I just lived normally eating meat and stuff

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like that. But I didn't really like it. And at some point I said, okay, I've had enough. And

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I said to myself that I wanted to be, well, somebody told me that there were people that

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weren't eating eggs or dairy and stuff like that. And they would call them macrubetic at some point.

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And I said, okay, I'm going to be vegetarian. And they said, okay, I'm going to be vegetarian.

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And they would call them macrubetic at some point. But a few years after that,

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that's when I decided I wanted to quit dairy, eggs, meat, all together. I thought, well,

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I'm not going to participate anymore in animal exploitation.

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So that was when I was 22. 22. And what year was that? That was 1994. Wow. So it was a while ago.

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And I must tell that I had a vegetarian phase after that because because of lack of support.

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And I said, maybe my will wasn't strong enough at that time. And then I decided to become vegan

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again. And so it was a bumpy ride. I mean, who could blame you? This was 1994. I guess, most of

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the it wasn't easy. I know people that are vegan since the 80s. And the the the I don't know how

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the they have done it, but they're still vegan to get today. And I don't think they have been

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vegetarian for a long time. Yeah, I knew I talked with someone who became vegan in the 1980s. But

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he explained to me that he had the great luck of living near like a natural products boutique,

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and they had lots of things like tofu or milk made from plants and stuff like that, that you

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wouldn't find in any other place. So how was that decision? How the people around you found

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how the people around you friends, family reacted to your decision to just completely stop eating,

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not even, you know, dairy and eggs completely. They stopped inviting me to barbecues and stuff

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like that. This is horrible. Yeah. And I must say, I started losing interest in

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in in inviting them as well, you know, because I was afraid that they they wouldn't

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like or be interested in eating a vegan meal for a gathering, you know.

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That must have been tough. You know, when you talk about the lack of support, I guess,

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that's part of the problem and why you had that. Yeah, I started eating cheese again,

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because my mom said, Hey, I have some cheese now. It was too tough, too difficult. And, you know,

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you know, nobody's like you and stuff. Stop being so finicky. And so I started then being vegetarian

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was a lot easier because you don't have to read all the ingredients. Okay, you avoid meat. That's

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easy. And then you can eat muffins with eggs and then more dairy and stuff like that. So I wouldn't

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mind checking that eating that for a while. And then I thought to myself, well, these animals,

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they end up being meat anyways. So that that's how I started being vegan again.

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And when you think back about those years, and look at now all the choices we have,

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if you want to transition to a vegan diet, in the supermarket, you have so many mock meat and so many

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delicious products that are vegan. Are you like pleasantly surprised? Did you think that

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this many products were going to pop up and? No, no, no, I wasn't. I didn't think this this would

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happen. Of course, there were some mock meats and stuff like that back in the days there was

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Eve and I think there was a Natura for the soy milk and they're still there. And maybe I'm surprised

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they're still there because there's so much competition now. Yeah, this was my entry to

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to veganism, you know, Santive on this is like a very popular brand. This was my entry, but now I

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just I don't I never purchase anything that comes from Santive. There are so many better options.

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So I understand that that thought process. So what do you say to people who nowadays become vegan,

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but decide to abandon their diet or come back to eating meat? Why do you think they

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they have that hesitation or they go back on their commitment?

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Like we have that so much support and so many like we have a big community now. So why do you think

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people still abandon the diet? Oh, I don't know. I haven't met

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lots of people that I've I've met some some people that I've gone back to being vegetarian

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because it's easier when they travel. But I know that the when they're home, they're eating vegan

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and when they go outside, they're sort of flexible. But I haven't heard about vegans going back to

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eating meat that I haven't encountered. So I don't know what I would say to them, but maybe that I

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don't know. Well, yeah, I mean, that's a question I often have because I'm online. I'm present,

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you know, virtually. And there are so many videos of people talking about how they are ex vegans

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now and how they they had to abandon that diet. And they often quote, you know, health reasons, but

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it's a bit doubtful, you know. Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe they they don't have access to

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I would say compassionate physician, but somebody that as health professional that

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let's them because I had a medicine for me. Family doctor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And she was

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okay with me being vegan. She just told me, well, at some point, I had anemia in B 12. So I started

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taking B 12. And now it's okay. I wonder if there are any initiatives out there targeting health

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professionals and talking with them about how veganism is when it is well balanced and planned

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is a healthy diet. Because I see a lot of nutritionists, you know, targeting the public,

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but I don't see many targeting, you know, health care professionals. So I wonder if that initiative

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exists out there. Oh, there's a there used to be something in Quebec called the name. What was it

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called? It was health professionals for plant based diet or something like that. It was a

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it was in French, of course. The name was the profession and the last thing that says

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I saw the profanity that profession and the last thing for an imitation vegetal.

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The association of health care professionals for a vegan diet. Yeah. Yes. And that existed. That was

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launched a few years ago, but I don't know how it ended and how it is today. But I know that that's

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a group of professionals that existed. And I hope it still exists. And I think that's a good

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thing. And I hope it still exists. They used to have a booth at the vegan festival at some point.

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Yeah, I will check. I'll check them out. Yeah, it's it was called a PSAV. That was the acronym.

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And and so now you're vegan. If we go back in time, you're vegan. How did it? How did you make the

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transition from just being vegan in your everyday life to actually doing activism work? Well, I was

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feeling lonely and I wanted to meet other vegans. But at the time I was vegetarian and I wanted to

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meet whatever like vegans and vegetarians. I had been a vegan. So I was more curious about the vegans.

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And so I started the MVA. And I started the Montreal Vegetarian Association because

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the internet was

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coming. And I mean, internet was there. And they were websites. I think I thought

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I found the website of the IVU, the International Vegetarian Union.

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And there were like vegetarian societies in lots of cities. And I thought, well,

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would be nice if we'd have that in Montreal. And that's how I started

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trying to get people together to talk about veganism and and how to do it and how to end

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and to do social activities. And so that that's how I got the idea. Because I saw that in other

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cities, they were doing it. So I thought, well, nobody's doing it in Montreal. So I might as well

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trying and do it myself with some other fellow vegans. That's amazing. And I always say to

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people who feel lonely, go and volunteer for a good cause. You will stop feeling lonely. You will

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meet other people and good people. And you also feel good about yourself doing something that

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matters. So, yeah, I think this was a great instinct. And I did not realize that you were

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the one who founded the Vegetarian Association of Montreal. Yes, so not doing much today, but

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I started it and that that led to the the the the foundation of the the the vegan festival.

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Well, I'm impressed more so than the beginning of this podcast. Yeah, I mean, I love the

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membership program. It allows you to have discounts for vegan and vegetarian recipes.

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Discounts for vegan and vegetarian restaurants across Montreal. So it's it's great. I love that

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about them. So let's go back to the vegan festival of Montreal. When did you first have the idea and

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what made you think about creating a vegan festival? I had the idea because I went to

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another festival in another city, which was Toronto. And in Toronto, they have this,

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they have a veg fest and they've had it for a lot of years. And first, I had thought, oh,

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we're going to do a veg fest in Montreal. And then we had a, I got people together and we all

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agreed that, well, veg fest is something but the vegan festival would be better. So we we agreed

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that it would have the vegan label instead of being general and bedchast and like promoting the

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the vegan lifestyle by using the veg word. It works, but we decided to go up a notch.

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Yeah, because it could mean, you know, vegetarian, it could mean, you know, a festival about health.

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But when you say that you're the vegan festival, you're targeting truly, you know, vegan people

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and vegan food. And you're talking about the ethical treatment of animals. And then that was

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when was it back in 2015? 12? I visited Toronto in the maybe it was 2006 or seven or in 2008. I

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went up to Germany for the IVU Congress. And so I've seen that that were the two festivals that

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I've seen. And I know some people that I met went to some veg fests in the state of New York or

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Vermont and stuff like that, maybe at Boston. And so I had help from people that I've seen other

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festivals too. Yeah. So it took a lot of years before you started the first, you know, concrete

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steps to to establish the vegan festival. Yeah, we had to to build a community, I'd say.

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It's like a network of people that would like to work together for a common objective.

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Nowadays, people, you know, I see a lot of people mostly in my generation, you know, doing small

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efforts for like a month or two, and then they get discouraged because it doesn't, it's not their

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efforts are not fruitful. They're not making a difference. But you're an example of truly

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perseverance. And what would you say to the people who feel discouraged about the fact that

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who feel discouraged about their activism efforts, and who feel like it's not making a difference?

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Yeah, what would you say to to them?

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Well, if they get tired, do rest, you know, it's like I do my some kind of activism doing the

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festival. So I do it. But sometimes I have to stop and do something else. So I would say,

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yes, if you want to quit, quit, but come back. It's like, if you feel bad, maybe you should do

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something you enjoy for a few weeks and then come back and you don't have to do it like every day.

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Like I see the anonymous for the voiceless here in Montreal, they do it once a week. So

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their cube of truth. Yeah, if they would do it every day, I'm pretty sure they would get tired.

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And that, that I don't know, I think to to do some some state sustainable activism or

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sustainable action in in whatever area you're doing it, you have to take some breaks.

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And I say it's like, it's like diving, you have to come up and breathe.

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That's such a great analogy. And that's such a great advice to Yeah, I think some people feel

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guilty about resting. They're like, Oh, but this is not what I should be doing. Have you ever felt

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that guilt? And do you have the advice to to manage that? Oh, well,

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that's a tough question because a guilt.

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If you're not looking after yourself, and you know, it can go up to being so discouraged,

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it can go to suicide, I guess. If people feel so guilty, and they're not making a

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difference, and they get so discouraged, you have to take care of yourself first. And just

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just the vegan diet is something that's good for yourself. And

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resting, the only sports I do is walking. And taking long walks around Montreal, that that what

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makes me like, not disconnect, but take time for myself.

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Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. Yeah, take some time to work out or to find some time to

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work out or do physical activities and think of see some friends, even non vegans.

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Even if it kind of hurts when they don't agree with you, but you can see them without

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going to the restaurant with them. You can go and see them and just talk and walk and

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and have an enjoyable time. Not only with vegans, it's, if you cut yourself from the whole society,

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it can get lonesome.

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Well, and like you said, you're vegan. So at least you're making an impact by just

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having chosen to become vegan. So you should feel good about that, at least that. So yeah,

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it's a good point. And most people are not even vegan. So you know, you're someone doing

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something incredible, and you're part of a minority. So you should genuinely feel good about this.

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Yes. So okay, you're establishing a network of people for many years, then what was the next step?

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Oh, getting the money. Some, some doctor gave money to the MBA. And that's how we

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got this little push to do the the first festival. And can I ask how much was that?

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Oh, it was, it wasn't that much. It was $10,000. And he lent, he lent it to the the MBA. So we,

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we reimbursed him. And that's what helped us do it. And then you had to so we were we were very

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lucky. Because if it wouldn't have been for this long, I don't know when the first vegan festival

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would have taken place. That's amazing. And if in the unlikely chance that this doctor is listening

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to this podcast, thank you so much for that. Thank you so much for your for lending that money. So

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then, when was, when did you realize that this project is going to be a big success?

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Did you realize that this project is going to get started is going to

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to be concretized to be, you know, to happen, this is going to happen, actually,

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was it when you rented the the venue? Was it when you first had your first partner for your

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for the festival? When was that moment? That was about in 2013, about a year before the festival,

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we had this first meeting. And we were like, 2025, vegans looking to make it happen. And I thought,

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and I thought, okay, we're a good team. Now, I think it's gonna happen. And I, I think at this

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time, at this point, we didn't know about the $10,000. But still, we were enthused, and we were

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ready to tackle the challenge. And how did you feel? Did you feel excited, fearful? All of the

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involved? Mostly excited. I wasn't apprehensive of it not being successful or, and even after the

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first festival, we were greatly surprised. We thought we would have 500 visitors or something

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like that, and we had 5000 the first year. So we got really excited. And the rest is kind of history.

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Wow. And then you had to get together again to organize the second edition. Sometimes, you know,

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the first edition, you have the excitement, you're enthusiastic, you start. But then how can you make

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sure that the vegan festival comes back every year? How can you make sure that your initiative

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is not going to just, you know, it's going to end after just its first edition? Did you think about

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that? Or did you make do something about it? Well, recently, the things that have been a little more

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difficult, because the because of the pandemic, we didn't see it coming. And we thought, oh, well,

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sky's the limit, we're gonna do this forever. But it's like last year, we we lost a little money.

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And this year, we're we're don't know what's gonna happen. But we're searching hard for solutions.

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And we're digging deep in our minds to get the solutions. Yeah, I guess it's all about creativity

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and making the most of what you have. So when I don't think I mentioned it, but when is the

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festival this year going to happen? Oh, it's gonna be on September 30 and October 1. Saturday and

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Sunday. And where at the Palais des Congrés de Montréal? Yeah. And have you noticed throughout

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the years, the impact of the festival? How did it maybe influence the vegan community?

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Has it changed minds? Do you have stories of people saying, you know, I became interested

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by veganism from, you know, visiting your festival? So yeah, I have people that have

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told me that. But not a lot, surprisingly. But I know a few people that turned vegan because

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of the festival. They came to the festival, they've seen some speech or talk or they

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met with some activists and they changed their mind about animals. Well, they were already

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curious if they came to the festival, but they had a de click. How do you say de click?

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I guess a key moment. Yeah, yeah. So some people live that at the festival. Yes, they do. And

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that makes me happy. Yeah. And I guess, you know, you haven't heard of a lot of people

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because not everyone is super vocal about it. You know, I'm sure that there are plenty of others

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who were convinced or something like that. And they just they did not mention it. Yeah, maybe.

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But I've had a, I know a few people that were turned vegan by the festival and they

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have told me personally that they changed their way of life because of the festival.

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That's great. And what about the vegan community itself? Have you received, you know, do you know

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stories of people meeting there, creating friendships, or starting something, you know,

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an initiative from just visiting or networking in the context of the festival? Well, some of the

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nonprofits that are that come to the festival, I know the some have tried and failed and some have

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tried and now they tried. It's like anonymous for the voices is a good example that

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came to the festival. And I think they were able to recruit and convince a lot of people to get on

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their way of doing activism. And yeah, the nonprofits, they kind of profit from the

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the festival. They attract people to their, like Refugees Arraye also have a big community now.

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A few years ago, I think the owner was not left to herself, but she was struggling and

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she needed help. And I think her coming to the festival, not only our festival, there was also

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a festival in Ottawa, where she she is present, but she gets volunteers from the

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being at the festival and showing what she's doing. So I think some little community communities

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grow because of it.

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And what about the companies? So not just the nonprofits, but the companies? I've discovered

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many new brands, so vegan startups at the vegan festival. And I guess many of them think of the

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vegan festival as a way to launch their their brand and present what they're doing. And yeah.

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So do you know any successful business story? I think the first one is the vegan

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story of startups, which launched at the festival.

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Well, what I can think of the first I can think of is Gusta, I think they were like really small.

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Small artisanal, what's the word for artisanal?

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You know, it's a small artisan. Yeah. You know, hand making, I guess on a smaller scale, they were.

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And I think they make mock meat. Is that it? Yeah, they make mock meat. They now make

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some cheeses. They make fake tuna. They make they have a lot of products now and they're really

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successful and they invested a lot in the festival. And I think that it paid off.

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Yes, I remember one edition, they had this big, you know, it wasn't a booth. It was like a

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almost a section of the convention where they were present. And I don't know if, you know,

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international listeners can get Gusta products from their supermarket, but they're very good.

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I love their sausages. Yeah.

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And do you get also, you know, feedback from because part of the vegan festival is also

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speakers. So vegan personalities who come give lectures or just demonstrations. I know you

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organize a lot of activities with chef, for instance, battles between vegan chefs, which is

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very entertaining. So how did that come about? And I think you also have an ambassador every year.

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And this year it's Christian Ventura, who is a vegan chef. Yeah, very well known in Montreal.

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He founded, I think, two restaurants, Momo Sushi and another one, which I forgot. Burger. Oh,

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yeah. Burger, which I hate the name. I don't know why, but yeah, burger. So instead of the U,

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you have the V. So how did the idea, where did the idea of inviting, you know, vegan personalities

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come from? And has that become throughout the years, a bigger and bigger part of the festival's

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experience? Well, this year, Christian is doing a lecture and a demo. So he's doing a lot. The other

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years, we would have some chefs that would do demos or we had Looney, we had Jean-Philippe,

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and we had Marc-Olivier Brouillette. Marc-Olivier Brouillette only did a lecture. So this year,

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he's doing a lot. And we have the idea because it's more entertaining, I think, for the people

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that to have a spokesperson than to have me doing the spokesperson part of the festival. So

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some people are at ease with the public and they can communicate better than I can do

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what veganism is about. And they have stories to tell also. They have their own story. And

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I think to have someone new every year makes it more interesting than having

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always the same person doing the spokesperson work.

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And how did you first convince them? Or was it like them who wanted to

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come and give lectures and participate? Or did you go and get them and convinced them?

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We went after them. Yeah, we go after them. The first spokesperson we had was Jean-Philippe Sey,

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and he was really excited. So we didn't have to twist his arm to convince him. He jumped right in

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and it was a lot of fun. And he is a chef? Yeah, he is a trained chef. And

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he has a blog. No, not a blog, but he has this Facebook page and he's kind of a...

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Well, he's funny. He pulls the strings of humor with people. So he's funny.

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He pulls the strings of humor with people. So, well, he does most of his communications in

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French, but we like him a lot because he makes us laugh. Great. And he also recently he even

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did some music where the music is humor and music at the same time. The music is good

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and the humor is funny. So he's not coming to the festival this year, but we wish he

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will be a visitor at least. Yeah, there are so many ways to

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pass on the vegan message and represent the vegan cause. It doesn't have to be all serious,

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all talks about horrible things, although it is important, but it can be comical. It can be

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true songs. It can take many forms. Why not? So let's talk about this current year vegan

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festival that will happen end of September, beginning of October. Can you give us some

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highlights of this year's festival? Well, my favorite is going to be Sarah

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Heiligtag. She's a philosopher. She comes from Switzerland and she started this movement called

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the Transformation. It's a pun, but she's really transforming farms from the animal exploitation

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to a vegan operation. So they can change the animal exploitation to become a farm sanctuary

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or they can change pastures into places where they grow edible crops and stuff like that. So

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she accompanies farmers that have a change of hearts and want to do a vegan change in their

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life. Mostly it's young farmers that inherit the farm from their parents and they don't feel like

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doing it the way they were doing it before. So she's going to do a talk. I'm really excited about

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that. But she'll do a talk from a distance. She's going to be in Europe and she's going to be

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through video at the festival. And there's also Anita Crank. You probably know her from the

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animal save movement. And now she's going to do a talk about the plant-based treaty.

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The city of Los Angeles signed the treaty. So that's pretty big. She's going to talk about

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bringing the plant-based treaty to Quebec. We already tried to make the city of Montreal

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sign the treaty, but they're not ready yet. But she's going to do a talk about the plant-based

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treaty. Maybe if we insist, maybe they'll change their mind.

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I love her idea so much. And actually, I worked on making Montreal a fair trade city. So there's a

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certification, fair trade certification for cities. And I was on the committee working on getting

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that certification for the city of Montreal. And it reminds me of the plant-based treaty.

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It's a lot of work talking with politicians who are my favorite people in the world.

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I'm being sarcastic now. But yeah, it's a lot of work. And what about the food? What about the

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vegan food brands that will be present this year? Any favorites of yours?

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There will be the usual that come every year. There's Parade Zee Vegetarienne that

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comes. They're always there since the beginning. There's another new brand that's called Woupfor

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that's going to be, that's going to make waves this year, I think. They are doing

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fish imitation. So it's, I think that they have, I don't remember the exact fish, but I remember

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the piranha. That's so funny. So I don't think anybody eats piranha. But they've come up with

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some recipes of fish, probably seasoned with algae. So they invested a lot this year. They

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want to launch their product in a big way. And I hope they do it. When I was an omnivore,

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I didn't like fish. So I'm not saying this because I think I'm gonna like it. But I think people

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will like it. Yes. I'm really excited about them and wanting to try their products. I haven't

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tried their products yet. Because yeah, I used to love tuna. And they're really good. And I

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love tuna. And also tapioca, I think. No, not tapioca. Tilapia. Exactly. I always mix up those

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two words. Tilapia and tuna were some of my favorites. And of course salmon. But yeah,

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this was another lifetime. Yeah, and Paradis Vegetarien, I have to say, you know, it's the

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second time I'm talking about them in this podcast. But I absolutely love them. They're so great.

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They're a small family and they have this mock meat business. And they import mock meat from Taiwan.

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And it's just amazing. You know, the taste of that mock meat is just so great.

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Anyone who's visiting Montreal should try their products. And what about the nonprofits that will

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be present this year? Do you have any? Anita Crank is bringing the Plant Based Treaty. They're

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gonna have a table. There's an organization that resembles Anonymous for the Oysters. It's called

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We the Free. They're known to be sort of a copycat of Anonymous for the Oysters. But

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they'll be there. Anonymous for the Oysters is going to be there. And Montreal Pig Save.

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And we had sanctuaries registering too. We have a Saint-Soade-Alimo de Ferme-des-Lestries.

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Safe and Refuge RR is also coming back this year. So that's nonprofits in a few words.

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And I think you're... I've noticed how you're getting bigger and bigger with the coming...

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with every edition. How many people do you expect to welcome this year?

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We don't know yet. We hope to get 5,000 because last year it was our worst year.

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We had 3,000 visitors and in 2018 we had 18,000. So pandemic hit us kind of hard.

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And so we're hoping to get 5,000. But if we get 3,000, well, that's it. And we have surprises

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for next year. We're going to change venue and we're going to bring back the restaurants.

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And it's going to be much more exciting than Paris des Congrès.

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Amazing. And yeah, it's the effect of the pandemic. I think every event business or cultural

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business, anything that involves lots of people in one place has suffered from its repercussions.

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And I'm sure that we'll see people with masks this year at the Vegan Festival.

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So I know because when I visited your website in preparation for this interview,

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I noticed how you have actually recommendations for international visitors.

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You have a partnership with a hotel. I didn't know that people traveled to

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visit the Vegan Festival of Montreal, but I'm not surprised. This is vegan tourism

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and it's becoming more and more a thing. So would you like to talk about that a bit?

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Well, we can see a map of where the tickets are sold every year with the Ticket Pro

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backend of the site. And we know that we sold some tickets in British Columbia, California,

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lots of them in Ontario, New Brunswick. I think we've also been contacted about someone from Alaska

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that wanted to come to the festival. So people come from a long way to come to the festival.

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And we have this partnership with Hôtel Montville until September 11th. You can get the $100

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rebate for each night you stay during the week of the festival, but only until September 11th.

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After that, it's high season for the fall colors. So it's a good deal, I think. It's $249 plus

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$33 for the vegan breakfast. So it's $272 per night. So yes, you can probably find cheaper,

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but you'll be a lot further from the festival and you'll have to take transit. Hôtel Montville is

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five minutes away from the Palais des Congresses. I think they offer a good deal.

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Yeah. And I will leave a link to the website of the vegan festival where you can find all of

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those details and more. But I love that veganism is impacting other markets and other businesses,

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including hotels. Yeah, they approached us to be the official hotel for the

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festival. There's also a hostel that approached us this year, but it was too late. So we had already

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signed the partnership with Hôtel Montville, but a hostel is something else. It's

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a dorm. It's not the same experience.

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And yeah, so I love that because those are all signs of success. And I think it's truly amazing.

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So maybe we can end the conversation on that. Did you have something

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more to say, something to add after this conversation?

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I don't know. If you listen to this podcast, I hope you make it to the festival.

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Like Ryan said, you can look at the website and see more details. The website is festivalvegandemontreal.com.

393
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It's a dot com, but we're a nonprofit. So at some point we decided to be a dot com, but

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we were really a nonprofit. And if you're at the festival, if you see me at the festival, you can

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say hi and say that you've seen the podcast and that you recognize me. I'm approachable.

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Well, I mean, be kind, but yeah, I'm going to also visit the festival and this will be an exciting

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year. And I'm so happy that this event exists. So truly thank you very much for your work,

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for creating that event and for being a guest on this podcast and taking the time to answer my

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questions. My pleasure. Thank you everyone for listening. Louis-Alexandre Gagnon is one of those

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vegan heroes who has given so much to the cause of animal rights. It was an honor to talk with him.

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As mentioned, I will be present at the vegan festival of Montreal. In fact, I'm planning on

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recording a special episode of my visit of the festival. I will be asking vegan entrepreneurs,

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vegan activists, vegan chefs, the same question. What is the most convincing argument for veganism?

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I wonder how people will answer. Don't miss out on that episode. Subscribe now and become a friend

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of this show. As always, let me know if you liked this conversation, leave me a good review or reach

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01:02:41,200 --> 01:02:48,160
out to me on Instagram at vegan report podcast. Thank you again for listening. Take care and see

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you next Tuesday for a new episode.