There are plenty of activities that I don’t find particularly interesting. To name a few: camping, small talk, driving during rush hour, Costco. Chiefly, it’s festivals. There are a plethora of reasons to love festivals as much as there are reasons to dislike them. Does that make it neutral? I won’t answer that.
I wouldn’t normally attend one at my own accord. However, you can’t say no when someone offers you a VIP(!!!!!) ticket. Thanks Andrew & Alyssa. On Saturday, I attended Vegandale, a vegan food festival in the middle of god damn no where. No where is located at Polson Pier which is easy to get to by bike, not so much by any other means of transportation. Public transit discourse is for another day.
The location was essentially an empty parking lot. Tents and food trucks occupied the space with little to no designated area to sit down and eat. Throw in some foldable picnic benches, was all I asked for. You know it’s serious when I starting saying things like “if I was the organizer…” and “it would have been better if…”.
After surveying the festival, there were tons of options to choose from. I really wanted try Nigerian food but didn’t. I also wanted a fried chicken sandwich, but it was costly. $20 costly! Food festival mark up is manufactured from a consumer standpoint. I could have eaten anything but I settled on a mac and cheese empanada (talk about a fusion!) from The Mac Shack which was honestly just fine and a poutine from Maynard (from Montreal) which was probably the best vegan poutine I have ever has since converting to veganism. I say it like it’s a religion because it is. Lol.
Let’s circle back to the VIP ticket. That includes exclusive access to Cabana and their washrooms so I don’t have to pee like a peasant in a porta potty. Cabana has it really good. Good views of Ward’s island to the left and the city to the right. Albeit, the music was so loud. I had to yell. It was also playing really bad music. Maroon 5 bad. Possibly salvageable after three stiff drinks. It will probably be the first and last time I experience Cabana because the ideal clientele is that of bro variety. It is a safe space for straight people.
It was fun. And I wouldn’t do it again.
Perry