VegFest!

On Saturday, we headed to Bethlehem, PA for VegFest. I was so excited! It was an outdoor festival spanning about 3 blocks with vendors for foods, health, animals, cooking demos, etc. 

On the way there, we realized we were going to go past Smith's Candies, a fond memory from the Bup's childhood. His family always went there around Christmas to purchase candy for their church, a tradition his parents still follow. Of course we had to stop & explore!

We purchased 4 mini dark chocolate peanut butter cups & a quarter pound of dark chocolate covered raisins. The lady looked at us a little strangely when we said that was all we wanted, but we knew we had a lot of good eats ahead of us for the day! The candies were very good - we sampled some as a mid-drive snack. :-)

It was an overcast day, but when the sun came out, it was HOT! I really liked their signs. There were several sections of the festival & they had them labeled well. I also loved the t-shirts that the workers were wearing; they were bright green & said "Soy to the World." Hah!

Our first purchase was a jar of cinnamon raw creamed honey from Truly Pure & Natural. The owner was kind enough to explain the process to us & let us sample the honey. I was impressed with his knowledge & innovation. Usually creamed honey is heated to high temperatures, but he found a way to keep the honey raw, thus maintaining it's natural health benefits.

We stopped to watch a cooking demo with a chef who runs the Natural Kitchen School, which offers vegan cooking classes. She made Veggie Fried Black Rice & the sample was delicious!

Other eats included our very first gluten-free, soy-free, vegan pizza! I was so excited by how flavorful it was. Plus, the "cheese" didn't stick to my teeth like mozerella sometimes does.

After that, I stopped for a kombucha from the Lehigh Valley Kombucha booth. It was a raspberry flavor - super refreshing! While we were sharing the kombucha, we sampled some hemp pretzels from Hempzels. They had a very nutty flavor. I never tried hemp prior to these, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Hemp is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, as well as protein. For such little seeds, they pack a big punch!  

Our last major eats came from the Lehigh University Fud Truck. We split a spicy red falafel wrap topped with avocado, roasted broccoli, grilled corn, parsley vinaigrette & baby mixed greens. So good! They locally sourced their produce & had a sign up with where each item came from.

One of the first stands we came to was Vegan Treats, a famous bakery in Bethlehem. Their selection was mouth watering! After we toured the whole festival, we went back & bought some goodies.

We went by the actual store later with some friends, but it was packed, so we didn't go in.

I tried the Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie & also got a whoopie pie to go. The brownie was amazing! It had a crumble on top that tasted just like the filling of a pb cup. I haven't tried the whoopie pie yet - it's in the freezer for us to split for dessert later in the week.

The Bup got the S'mores Brownie. I'd never had vegan marshmallows before because none of our local grocery stores carry them. They were better than regular marshmallows! He also got a Cowboy Cookie to go & we split that on Sunday night. I think these are now one of my favorite kind of cookies! It had coconut, walnuts & chocolate chips in it.

I got a souvenir shirt that said, "Peach the Truth," so I had to get a pic of the sign!

The Bup's t-shirt said, "Holy Crop," which was on another sign. I love their mottos!

We explored a little of the surrounding streets, & came across this sign. Love it! We didn't go in, but were happy to see Yuengling on the sign.

Last stop: We met up with friends who live in the area & they took us to one of their favorite cute little ice cream shops. (It's just around the corner from Vegan Treats). They had a huge selection of flavors - some of the normal & some unique. I got 1 scoop each of Peanut Butter Cookie (vanilla w/ pb swirl & crushed oreos) & Chocolate Fudge Brownie on a cone. It downpoured while we were inside, so we were thankful we left VegFest a little early!