Whirlwind WorldFest Weekend

Who: VN Office Manager Lyndsay Orwig and former VN Editorial Assistant Charlotte Gordon
What: The WorldFest 2010 Earth Day Festival
Where: Woodley Park, Lake Balboa, Calif.
When: May 16, 2010
Why: To have fun, gorge on good food, and rock out to good tunes while representing the best magazine ever!

The Scoop: If you were in Southern California this past weekend, hopefully you didn't miss out on WorldFest—LA's largest Earth Day festival, filled with amazing food, great music, and tons of cute animals (even ponies)! This was my second time at this wonderful event, though my first as a VN representative, and it was very heartwarming to see the enthusiasm shown by so many for VegNews. The super-positive vibe at the event was totally contagious!

Livin' it up behind the VegNews booth

So much happiness makes a person hungry, and so the eating began first thing in the AM and did not cease until we packed up and left. Breakfast consisted of MaggieMudd ice cream. Yes, I know I live in San Francisco where MaggieMudd is based, but to be honest, I don't frequent this fabulous ice cream shop for personal reasons. Let's just say I have the inability to show self-control when a huge ice cream sundae is staring me in the face, so I hold out on MaggieMudd for special occasions, and this event was one of those.

Mmmm, MaggieMudd

With our sweet tooths satisfied, Charlotte and I moved onto savory, and found quite the gem. We both discovered the delicacy that is Jackfruit last year at the AR 2009 Conference where Samosa House catered a wonderful Jackfruit entrée that totally blew us away. But I digress. We were tipped off about a delicious vendor called Bodhi Tree Vegetarian Café that was selling Jackfruit salads and coconuts filled with refreshing coconut water. We were sold! Take my advice, if you haven't tried Jackfruit, go find some now.

Jackfruit salad delicious coconut water

It was turning into a gorgeous day, music started to play, and the people started to pour in, and boy were they excited to be there. So much excitement can really bring on a sweet tooth—again! Luckily, we were approached by Jon Hull of Luscious Organic Desserts who generously shared some sweet treats with us. Four words: cookie dough bon bons. They were cookie dough balls covered in chocolate—both dark and white. We almost died. Plus, they gave us Peanut Butter Crunch Bars (very similar to Whatchamacallits), and two cupcakes. Yes, we were very spoiled—not to mention stuffed.

The amazing cupcakes of Luscious Organic Desserts

Good conversation, yummy eats, catchy tunes, and cute animal sightings made for one wonderful day at WorldFest, which made me sad that I missed last year's event. If you missed it this year, be sure to mark your calendars for next year! It's sure to put a smile on your face.