It’s summer! That means everyone, myself included has been out and about cooking up vegan barbecues, picnicing in the parks, and soaking up Vitamin D.

I haven’t even gotten a chance to update you on the last Vegan Drinks Nights, when BAM! There’s more upcoming events to tell you about!

Sydney’s event went great, raising $350 for Manly’s penguins!

Making a speech at the 4th Sydney Vegan Drinks!

Detials on our next event coming soon. And I’m so excited that melbourne’s first Vegan Drinks Night was a hit. From organiser, Carla:

“Held at the Sporting Club in Brunswick, they were very accomodating in creating a vegan menu and giving us drinks lists and suggestions of what alcohol was vegan so a huge thank you to them. We had over 35 people, raised $121.80 for the QLD RSPCA and got to meet many awesome new people! I look forward to the next drinks! Many thanks to everyones support.”

Hooray! Melbourne’s next vegan drinks night will be held on 25 March at 7:00 at Gasometer. More info here on their Facebook event.

Mark your diaries for these other upcoming vegan events!

This Sunday 20 Feb Vegan Society NSW is holding a Vegan Picnic in conjunction with the Mardi gras Fair Day. Their Facebook event is here. Did you also know that Vegan Society NSW is on Twitter now? Follow their updates here!

Speaking of Mardi Gras, don’t forget to come out and support the Queer Animal Lib NSW float in  the Mardi Gras parade on Saturday 5 March. Guaranteed good times, and a chance to see me and some other vegaroo writers in yellow feathered tu-tu’s. Err… maybe leave the cameras at home though

That same morning, it’s the next Sydney Vegan Bake Sale! Funds are going to help the Queensland floods and it’ll be at the usual time and location: 8am – 1pm at the Newtown DIY Markets. More info on the Bake Sale blog.

And last but not least, on 19 March come on out for the launch of Kathy Divine’s new book Forever 21. It’s at 6:00 at Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, Mitchell Theatre. Word on the street is there will be delicious vegan cakes! You can RSVP here on Facebook.

If you know of other upcoming vegan events around Australia you’d like to publicize, please drop me a line at sharon@vegaroo.com

Happy New Year! I hope that you all enjoyed a festive and relaxing holiday season. I know it was a much needed break for me, but I’m excited to now hit the ground running back here on vegaroo and announce the next Sydney Vegan Drinks night!

We’ll be back at The Hive Bar who hosted our last awesome event, at 93 Erskineville Road. The event is from 7-10 (or likely later…) on January 28th.

As usual we’ll have yummy vegan snacks and a list of vegan wine, beer, cocktail and mocktail options.

We’re asking for suggested donation of $5 from attendees.

I started asking for suggestions for beneficiaries, but when my friend Derek of Inner West Live alerted me to a recent attack on the penguins of Manly, I knew immediately that these were the animals I wanted to help! Penguins are my spirit animal, man!

You can view some news footage about the attacks here.

The money we raise will go to the Manly Environmental Centre who have a Penguin Warden program! I know what you’re thinking, “Where do I sign up???” Easy. Click here to learn more about penguin protection!

I’m really excited about this particular event and hope to see/meet many of you there.

If you’d like to come it would be cool if you RSVPed on our Facebook event and invited your friends!! If you’re not on Facebook you can just leave your RSVP as a comment here.

UPDATE: We just learned that a Vegan Drinks night is starting up in Melbourne, hosted by the lovely Carla of Easy as Vegan Pie. Their first night is also Jan 28 and you can read more here on their Facebook event.

This past weekend, over 4,000 showed up for World Vegan Day in Melbourne! In the rain! SHUT UP! That is a crazy turnout. So it’s up to us in Sydney to step it up this weekend. We’ve got two great events on!

First up on Saturday, it’s the last Sydney Vegan Bake Sale of 2010. I’ve hear rumours of cinnamon buns, donuts, the usual delicious cupcakes – maybe even some CUPCAKES IN ICE CREAM CONES – WHAT???

I will also definitely be making some of these bad boys:

Those are caramel apple muffins, slightly modified from this recipe. And since I’m planning on making roughly 4,000 of them, y’all better show up and buy!!! As usual the sale is from 8-1 at the Newtown Markets across from the train station. This time we’re raising money for Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue in Queensland.

Then you can work off some off that sugar by walking to Belmore Park on Sunday for the 2010 Cruelty Free Festival! From 10am-7pm there will be over 60 stalls, many of them food-based, including vegaroo favourites, Funky Pies, Addiction Food, Nourishing Quarter, and many more!

Hope to see you all there!

Look, I organise a Vegan Drinks night. I love drunken reverie as much as the next person. And as a non-native Australian, I don’t feel quite right coming in and slagging off one of the country’s most celebrated customs. But as vegans, I think we all agree: Melbourne Cup is fucked.

And if you don’t, I’ll simply link you to this (difficult to watch) YouTube Video  and let you come to your own conclusions.

It can be an especially awkward time of year for vegans in the workplace who don’t want to come off as joyless buzzkills, but at the same time, can’t endorse the cruel “sport.” Our vegaroo contributor Tim recently lamented to me,

“I have a choice of either going along with the office and not really enjoying it, or ostracising myself by refusing to participate. While everyone else takes the day off to go party (and the next day to recover) I have to either stay in the office and work or take a day of leave. Either way, I feel like I’ll be judged poorly for not ‘playing with the team.’ “

So what are some alternatives?

For you Melbournians who have the day off, HorseRacingKills.com has a list of demonstrations and events you can attend.

If you’re in Sydney, I recommend this Not the Melbourne Cup Celebration at University of Sydney, which is what I’ll be attending. I also just learned about this Melbourne Cup protest happening that morning in Martin Place.

You can also sign Animal Australia’s pledge to never bet on horse-racing or donate to Charlies Angels Horse Sanctuary in Queensland, which is also the beneficiary of the next Sydney Vegan Bake Sale.

I’m sure there are far more events happening around the country, so I ask you to please share other alternatives in the comments.

Back in 1985, Tina Turner may have contended that We Don’t Need Another Hero, but I for one certainly find it important to draw inspiration from the examples of other activists who are out there raising awareness about animal protection issues and veganism in innovative, exciting, and – most of all – effective ways.  Since meeting her at the 2002 Animal Rights Conference in the United States, one of my personal ‘AR Heroes’ has been the media activist, spokesperson and author, Karen Dawn.

Karen in person has so much energy, enthusiasm, and passion for promoting animal rights, but it’s matched with equal amounts of knowledge about a multitude of issues and also the communication skills to get the message across in an engaging way.  Plus, there’s a huge sense of fun and playfulness in the way she approaches the serious issues of how animals are viewed and treated, which helps to draw in those who are not already interested and involved in the movement.

Karen with Katie Manitsas, a director of Samadhi Yoga

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Woah. Does anyone else feel like there is SO MUCH happening right now? Labour Day weekend means it’s officially summer and I guess everyone’s coming out of hibernation and getting out there.  We also recently had a vegaroo! brainstorming session, out of which some awesome ideas sprang. I’ll have a full report on that here soon.

In the mean time, here are some big upcoming events you should know about:

Sunday Oct. 10 – The VegOut Picnic is a celebration in Sydney’s Centennial Park, wrapping up the 2-week long VegPledge. You can order one of their VegPacks which are all vegan and include yummy foods from Nourishing Quarter, and vegaroo favourite, Addiction Food. We’ll be there chowing down!

Tuesday Oct. 12 – Karen Dawn, author of “Thanking the Monkey” will be speaking at Samadhi Yoga in Newtown at 7:30. It’s a free event! And if you can’t make it then, be sure to check out Earth Cafe at Samadhi Yoga sometime for some rad vegan food.

Friday Oct. 15 – The Next Sydney Vegan Drinks is going down at The Hive in Erskineville and I have a feeling it’s going to be our best event yet! We’re raising money for Pet Rescue. You can RSVP on our Facebook event page.

Saturday – Sunday Oct. 23-24 – Following the Animals Australia AGM will be there Animal Activist Forum in Palm Beach Queensland. There will be heaps of speakers including, yours truly! I’ll be presenting on Activist Blogging on behalf of WSPA. I’d love to hear from anyone else who’s attending or speaking!

Sunday Oct. 31 – Melbourne will be celebrating World Vegan Day! Sounds like there’s going to be heaps of food and community organisation stalls. Anyone going and want to report on it for vegaroo? Let me know!

Saturday Nov. 6 – It’s the last Sydney Vegan Bake Sale of 2010 from 8-1 at the Newtown Markets. This time it’s benefiting Charlie’s Angels Horse Sanctuary in Queensland. Deliciousness guanranteed.

Sunday Nov. 7 – All the cool kids in Sydney will be at the Cruelty Free Festival in Belmore Park. With over 60 Food and Wine stalls, you may have to drag me away kicking and screaming at the end of the day.

Whew!

Over 120 bake sales have taken part in this year’s Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale and there are still more to come.

This year Australia had 8 bake sale sign ups in in 5 states. Next year I want to see every state participate, Tasmania, A.C.T and N.T – I’m looking at you!

Kayla and Kaeli in Adelaide held a picnic with bands, bellydancers and baked goods. They raised $533.45 for the Australian Marine Wildlife Research and Rescue Organistation (AMWRRO).

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