What a glorious event! After months of planning, the annual Planted Expo launched and delivered the experience that all were waiting for. With over 200 vegan edible and lifestyle businesses in attendance and a stage packed with informative and inspirational speakers from around the world, the Virchew Crew was in plant-based heaven! Guests to Booth 437 were met with smiles, samples, information, and a great giveaway. Thanks to Crew - Tatiana, Laura, Julia, Helen, Shannon, and Geoff for keeping the WOOFOO energy high!

Our beautiful booth was eye-catching and fun, welcoming to all, and stocked with our Love Bowl and special samples of the (NEW!) Heal Bowl. The team was rocking parallel messages from the new tee's from Julia Murray of Hooked on Plants, who was our energetic and uber-helpful booth mate! (Her pooches, Zak and Tez are Virchew Dog ambassadors!)

Virchew's founder and a 30-year vegan diet for dogs advocate, Laura Simonson, spoke passionately on the canine world's hot topic: "A Vegan Diet for Dogs: What if it's a Game Changer?" Alongside boundary-pushing vegan luminaries and entrepreneurs, Laura engaged the audience in an in-depth conversation that is long overdue and desperately needed due to our climate change chaos and for an evolution to a plant-based diet for all, including our companion dogs. These powerful messages that will be broken down and shared in upcoming blog posts.

Other speakers > internationally-renowned author and vegan superstar Brenda Davis RD laid it out the how-to's of raising plant-based children followed by local mom and founder of Vegan Family Kitchen, Brigitte Gemme, who brought the theme home with meal prep for the whole family. Margaret Coons, founder of Nuts for Cheese, shared her inspirational rise to vegan cheese stardom and Chef Chanthy Yen inspired all with his journey from Cambodia to nourishing Prime Minister Trudeau and his family to opening Vancouver's Michelin recommended restaurant Nightshade. Erin Ireland, Lauren Toyota, Dr. Matthew Nagra, and the activist trio of Zoe Peled, Amy Soranno, and Nick Schafer, kept the momentum flowing and really drove home the message that we are all in this together because the health of the planet, our pooches, and ourselves is something to fight for.

Although we did not get a picture snapped together, we were in awe of Game Changer (movie) star, Dotsie Bausch and her triumphant story of transforming to a plant-powered Olympian, Plus, how she founded her not-for-profit, Switch4Good, urging people and our world to ditch dairy. 

The Virchew Booth was located a short chuck-it ball throw from the Speakers Stage and we had a fantastic time re-connecting with some rebarkable persons!

Next > a BIG congratulations to Charlyn Black and her pooch Roger! They were the winners of our ONE Month of Virchew LOVE Bowls and a tee from Julia's Hooked on Plants mission! (Valued at over $140.00!)

We're looking forward to seeing the impact of Planted Expo's mission over the next year, but in the meantime, enjoy these pics and visit us in Kitsilano! Wednesday Open Houses (11am to 5pm) will continue all summer and we have so many new and exciting things to share with you all.

Lastly, thank you to all of the team at Planted Expo for their hard work and passion to hold the event. No small feat.