Pittsburgh Vegan Festival Series
Few locales are blessed with as humane an entity as Pittsburgh Vegan, LLC. Beginning in 1997, with an event named Multi-Culture Fest, founder Amy Cottrill has been coordinating animal-friendly area events continuously for nearly 30 years. Pittsburgh Vegan (PV) stages anywhere from five to 12 outings every month (!), including four major events annually—corresponding with each season—along with their smaller events, including Monday Night Chill Lounge.
PITTSBURGH VEGAN’S HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL
Historically, Pittsburgh Vegan’s largest annual event has been The Original Pittsburgh Vegan Expo and Festival, held each summer. In 2024, the event took place in July at the Allegheny Health Network Sports Complex. For the last two years, PV’s Halloween Festival has taken off; in 2024, its attendance surpassed the summer food festival for the first time.
Ever flexible, Cottrill’s events are fluid, morphing and evolving with the times. Most Pittsburgh Vegan events are admission free. In 2025, VOktoberfest (as in “Vegan Oktoberfest”) will take place on September 27 and the Halloween Festival is scheduled for November 1. For the most up-to-date calendar, visit their website or Facebook page.
Pittsburgh VegFest
The Pittsburgh VegFest, a project of the
non-profit Justice for Animals, is another large Western PA annual happening. This year (2024) marked the tenth iteration, which remarkably managed to not miss a beat during the COVID years.
The outdoor event is free to the public. The 2024 Fest included 180 vendors, live music, cooking demos, yoga, and children’s activities. The Pittsburgh City Paper voted the event the Best Food Festival in 2017 and 2018. VegFest is held each August in Allegheny Park.
This year also marked the first VegFair, another Justice for Animals project. It is a “smaller, more intimate” VegFest, according to co-founder Leila Sleiman, with 80 vendors in an indoor/outdoor setting. VegFair was held in April; Sleiman expects it to become an annual event, as well.
