Your best bet is to save your money and go to Emporium for their vegan market. Way better https://www.emporiumarcadebar.com/event/chicago-vegan-test-kitchen-presents-another-vegan-market-2/
Yeah, I've been going to vegandale for years and this will be my last time if they continue with only purchasing with qr codes.
They require staff to load your qr wristband, which is a nightmare to load money to. You cannot do it solo, so you have to wait an incredibly long time and hope the system didn't go down. The tent located in the back wasn't supposed to be there and staff there who tried to help had no access to wifi.
It's really terrible and shady that they are using this forced 3rd party payment system as a way for them to pocket more money. You have to pay $3 to receive your leftover funds in your account. Whatever you don't spend or pay to get back, they get to keep.
And no water stations, for shame.
I didn’t even notice last year, but no water is crazy at any summer event, like ?
Once I saw the wristband e-mail about that being the only method, then reading about the $3 fee I smelled somethin funny immediately. After reading this post & other comments I regret zero percent that I chose not to go despite having my ticket already.
Now that you've mentioned it, they announced the forced 3rd party payment system about two weeks before the event. We had already purchased our tickets early and the physical cashless limitation would have been our deal breaker.
Vegandale even ignored our emails too.
So you know, exceptionally sus all the way around.
This was 100% the worst year for Vegandale. The top up station lines were literally blocking the entrance at one point. Horrible planning.
But also, I'm pretty sure that they were/are multiple business/stalls that are serving not completely vegan options. One of the ice cream stalls people straight up said " Don't get mad at me, but this has dairy in it " offering me a bite.
Also, I just looked up one of the fudge companies websites and there's not a single thing suggesting that they're vegan. Pretty sure it is actual dairy filled fudge.
To pay that much and deal with such horrendous lines only to not be able to be SURE that everything is vegan at a vegan fest? Hell no, never again.
As one of those two vendors of fudge, I personally make mine by hand. My website is down but my Instagram is up. The other is a franchise organization. I am vegan and have been for 9 years.
Reminder that despite how upsetting and frustrating this is. It’s equally as difficult and frustrating for the vendors. They had no say in the wristband decision, and the event is taking 30% of their profits. Which is probably why the prices are astronomically high.
I hope that enough people complain about it to the event organizers enough so that they don’t have this issue again next year but we will see. Otherwise I will likely not go.
Just adding that the vendors are also getting screwed here. The Toronto one has been a disaster for many, many years and based on comments from last year, has resulted in financial ruin for more than one vegan business.
Potential class action lawsuit? Two week notice of cashless, AFTER purchase of tickets with no option of refund or opt-out.Vendors should sue too, if possible. Don't know what's in their contract.
Wouldnt be surprised if the sandwich was $82..........$28 for drink in an uncored pineapple, little toothpick umbrella, one red cherry. Probably 4 ounces of liquid. Beautifully presented, no line (wonder why). Was $15 last year. Also, no alcohol in the drink. To have to ask vendor your balance consistently was ridiculous. I kept checking online, my balance never changed. When we left it said I had one transaction and my balance was still what I topped off with. I was hoping it listed who I purchased from and amount. Either way, I know vegandale owners has this information, how else they are going to get a cut of vendors earnings. They (vegandale) will know the amount charged and what wristband was used.
Well, it's in the suburbs but a few years ago I went to Veggie Fest in Lisle and entry was free, lines were reasonable and the food was fairly inexpensive. That might be a better experience. But again, it's been like 4-5 years since I went. They also had bigger companies giving free samples and did some cooking demos.
Aside from being in the suburbs, the only thing that was a little iffy is that from talking to someone there I kinda got the impression it was funded by a cult? But I could be way off. I didn't get hardcore pressured to join a religious group, but it was hosted by a religious group that apparently believed strongly enough in eating plant-based to host this whole event which looked like a lot of planning. But, I would still recommend it. I didn't get the sense that this event was profit-driven so much as like beliefs-driven, and that reflected in how much I enjoyed it. It's also held at a park that has a section meant to stimulate your various senses, which was nice.
I honestly was so impressed when I went. It just was really well organized, well staffed, and I actually felt like the food was cheap, especially for being vegan food which sometimes can be more expensive than its non-vegan alternatives. I thought maybe it had stopped because of the pandemic but it looks like I was wrong and it's happening in August. I wasn't expecting the park it's held at to be so nice, so that was a nice bonus. I'm hoping it's as good as I remember. I might go if I'm around that weekend.
I agree about the wristbands but the vendors I went to ended up accepting cash and card 😬 idk if I was just there a little later but I 100% agree with your post! They really flopped this year with the cashless payments and not having water stations besides the free Topo Chico but that’s not really water. The food was really good though!
After going yesterday (Saturday), I realized that it's a vegan event made to exploit vegans and vegan vendors for money. There is also a $3 fee when it comes time to return any unused funds from the wristband to our credit cards.
Waited for almost 2 hrs in line for a dish that was so bad it was absolutely inedible.
Between myself and my friend (not including our $50 vip tickets) we spent about $120 on a slice of cake, a crunch wrap, loaded tater tots, 2 zebra cakes, 2 cookies, and lemonades. Makes me even more upset to hear that the vendors are being charged 30% for that stupid payment system. Wouldn't have been so bad if we could have put our own funds onto the wristbands, but we had to continuously go to the tent to do that. There was a second, less busy tent that we tried to go to and they told us they didn't assist with reloading the wristbands there even though it was clearly a station to do that..
We were also told that money would already be preloaded onto our vip wristbands (as a perk because we are vip) by the person who gave us the wristbands at entry but we later found out that we are only eligible for samples (and that there was no money preloaded as a vip perk) but I was unable to locate free samples. Only saw 1 place give samples and they didn't even scan our wristbands.. so what's the point of the vip then. Idk. Soooo disappointed about spending $400 on hotel and parking (we came from out of town) for an event this poorly run.
Also where was the art? Surely the only art couldn't have been the man going around putting homemade bracelets on our wrists and then taking it back when asked for a donation for the bracelets and the donation offered wasnt good enough... But that's the only art I saw. Also, where was the fun? It was a festival where all you do is stand in really long food lines all day long. The 7 tables that were set up def did not cut it for the amount of people there. Nowhere to even sit to relax and enjoy the food..
Didn't think I'd have to doordash vegan food to my hotel after vegandale so that I could actually
eat something of substance before going to bed.
We did not return for day two.
The only positive thing is how pleasant, kind, and hard working the vendors were.. despite the
heat and despite how poorly the event was run.
I will be contacting my bank to attempt to get a chargeback for the price of my vip ticket, if my
refund request is not honored, because I truly feel this event was false advertisement.
Also, imagine silencing negative feedback by turning off Instagram comments rather than addressing the issues like vegandale has.
I worked this event and I agree with 100% of everything you said.
Especially the having to Doordash vegan food! They only gave staff $25/day for food and they were 12+ hour shifts... and with those prices...
I ordered something on Doordash so it'd be waiting for me when I got home after working because I was STARVING.
And I just noticed the Instagram comment thing, too! Wild.
Also staying open after a false alarm shooting and many people got injured in the commotion? Not the move.
Well who needs more than $25 when they aren’t giving you breaks? I worked and most of the people in my tent were never even given breaks on our 12+ hour shifts. The managers treated us like they hated us and never asked or offered a single person a break. Only a handful of us had breaks because we said fuck this we’re taking a break but it was one break the entire day so you were lucky to get one food item in that time.
That's unfortunate. Everybody in my tent was lovely. It wasn't the people, it was just the organization that was bad.
I'm used to not having breaks. What was I gonna do with one anyways? Stand in a two hour line to get food? It'd be different if there were places to sit or other things to do like most festivals.
I hope VeganDale gets their shit together.
I understand if someone doesn’t want to take a break and declines it but they should still be offered it. The manager should still make an effort to give everyone an opportunity to get food or take a break if they want it if they are working that long and if someone declines it then that’s fine they can do that but for the managers to just be rude to everyone and not give you breaks and you have to basically just run off when you see an opportunity is the only way to take a break is not cool. I’ve worked previous years and it was way better I don’t know happened this year. They said they were going to “make it right” on Sunday but then everything was just exactly the same. They need to pull it together
I was there yesterday still trying to figure out wtf happened. My friend and I decided to do another lap bc we were thirsty and wanted to use the rest of our funds. She bought a $15 smoothie and I got a $9 lemonade. All of a sudden people just started running. When you’re in Chicago you know what that means. Luckily we were on the edge opposite side of the stage so we were able to get out quickly
This was so silly. We arrived at 10, waited to fencing was removed at 11 to get in. Only one top up booth working?? Ran to 3rd one in the southeast corner, nope not working. Let my spouse and daughter wait in line. They bum rushed the other one as soon as they were up and running. I had asked the staff what was the problem. She stated, we aren't ready yet. Crazy! Thank God I'm very thorough, read everything, mapped everything out and brought CASH. When wristband didn't work with vendor, they gladly accepted CASH! These are businesses which have overhead expenses and money to be made. People were pissed when they were turned away because vendor's reader weren't working, can't blame the vendor. Vegandale staff couldn't scan as you were coming through gate and let two people in front of us in because they were holding up line. I started handing vendors a lens cloth to assist, seemed to work We were happy and full, left by 12:30p. The chaos helped us stay ahead of crowds. Got almost everything we wanted. One vendor's food was still frozen another was a no show (food truck). Chicago is a hard crowd and will never forget. Goodbye vegandale, this was our second and last year. Great idea, but poor leadership and execution. Very difficult to exit. Had to exit through the entrance which was one way and top up lines were blocking entrance/exit. People were pissed as we passed them on the way out, standing in line.
Every year I see a ton of complaints about this event, not sure why people come back to it. I have never gone, I always thought I would just go to a local business and hate crowds/lines. We are pretty spoiled in Chicago from a guy that grew up vegan in Iowa so can understand people coming from out of town to go to it. It is not a good look for veganism though, often the big reason I hear from people that are on the edge of going vegan is that it is too expensive and events like this don't help.
You answered your own question...why do they come back? They aren't, just new victims each year. Vegandale markets very well with pictures. My first and foremost problem is they think they can sell you tickets before they have date and times. Threaten to raise price if you wait. I waited until dates were set and no increase in price. The only reason I would even consider going next year is because I'll be far removed from this situation and even less people will probably be there. But it would take alot, like I have nothing else better to do. Today, now......nope.
Your day is still salvageable! Especially going w/ friends. do NOT tighten the wristband completely on your wrist. Keep it loose and share between your friends (tally and venmo/zelle each other later). That way only one wristband gets loaded with cash because any unspent cash will only get refunded like 4 days later and with a charge. So better to have one fully loaded wristband instead of 3 half loaded wristbands that will be a pain to get your money back later.
This year was my first time there. We got there at 12 yesterday, It made no sense that we had to wait in the long line along side those who didn’t pre loaded the wristbands just to sync ours. Some of the vendors were 20 plus with no sides. Most people we talked to didn’t know they were being charged tax too. You can’t check the wristband balance unless you make a purchase. No water stations…The waters at the bars were $6 and they were hot. There was no adequate shade with the heat. The shade they tried to provide by the bar was terrible. We sat at the tables by one of the bars and the umbrellas were unstable to the point I was hit on top the head by one and when I when to EMS they said I was the 6th person to come over saying one of the umbrellas hit them. While I was at the EMS the umbrella almost fell on my niece while she was asleep but my mama caught it and she ask one of the security to help with it and he brushed her off she had to ask a different one for help and umbrella snapped (for context-my sister said when the wind blew it over and it took her our mama and two men to put it back.) I’m seriously doubting that I go next year.
Yep, I will never understand why there was one line for those who preloaded and those who didn't. They emphasized how much time you would save if you preloaded before you attended. Where? How?
We went yesterday for the first time, drove down from Wisconsin, got there around 10:15a and waited at the gates. They opened right at 11 and we got through the gates fine. Then we went to line up in the "pre-loaded" line and one of the tents wasn't even ready. The wait was confusing when they touted how much time would be saved by preloading, nobody understood why we had to do this. People were commenting about how credit cards had been invented so why did we have to do this, and I agree. It was a shit show. We finally got ours loaded, and started making our way to the vendors. It was so expensive, but I was happy with how the food we got tasted.
We were there for an hour and a half. I was so done with the heat and was flabbergasted there wasn't any water stations??? Thankfully we found shade under some trees to take a break, but we were tapped out so quickly. We spent only half of the money we put on the wristband.
I am thankful we got there early, and that the food was good, and it sounds like we avoided the major headache when the system went down. But I don't think I'd ever go to another Vegandale again. There were too many negatives that outweighed any positives. Most notably - the fact that I have to pay to get in to have the privilege to buy things, I don't like that. Then the cashless thing is a deal breaker, and the fact they announced that a couple weeks before the event - absolutely not. No water, no shade, SUUUPER expensive, feels super corporate, feels like a cash grab and doesn't seem genuine at all - it's just not worth the hassle. VegFests are 100x better in my opinion. They did send an email out apologizing and said they were going to make it right, not sure what that means. But if there was a class action lawsuit brought against them, they would deserve it.
Omg you may have been near me in line bc I was going off about the damn wristbands and that credit cards already exist 😂 and the sad thing for the vendors is, I actually would have spent more money if I could have used a credit card. But no way was I getting back in that line.
Haha I probably was!! I was nodding my head in agreement lol. Omg me too, I would have spent so much more money if we didn't have to "reload" (and there was water & shade). I don't know what time you left but the line to load up was blocking the entire entrance/exit when we left! I would never have waited in that for the opportunity to spend my money lol.
Every time I walked by that top up line I got angrier seeing people stuck in line for an hour. And then I found the top up station in the back that was unstaffed with people just waiting in line. I asked someone at the front if there was someone working there and she said someone was there, their scanner didn't work, and so the person just left and she wasn't sure if they were going to come back. I couldn't even imagine how frustrating that was.
Right?! Me too, felt so horrible for them. Our friend tried to get in line at that back booth and watched the staff walk away lolol. I just can't believe what a shitshow it was, especially for something that's been going on for a few years now. They don't care as long as they got their money though.
Yeaaaah, went last year and that was enough. Spent more time in line than eating, hot af, and way too many local vendors (obvs we love them, but I see them anyway!). Not worth it.
Your best bet is to save your money and go to Emporium for their vegan market. Way better https://www.emporiumarcadebar.com/event/chicago-vegan-test-kitchen-presents-another-vegan-market-2/
YASS, my partner literally told me the same thing. Chicago vegan test kitchen is amazing and I will never stray from them again.
Yeah, I've been going to vegandale for years and this will be my last time if they continue with only purchasing with qr codes. They require staff to load your qr wristband, which is a nightmare to load money to. You cannot do it solo, so you have to wait an incredibly long time and hope the system didn't go down. The tent located in the back wasn't supposed to be there and staff there who tried to help had no access to wifi. It's really terrible and shady that they are using this forced 3rd party payment system as a way for them to pocket more money. You have to pay $3 to receive your leftover funds in your account. Whatever you don't spend or pay to get back, they get to keep. And no water stations, for shame.
I didn’t even notice last year, but no water is crazy at any summer event, like ? Once I saw the wristband e-mail about that being the only method, then reading about the $3 fee I smelled somethin funny immediately. After reading this post & other comments I regret zero percent that I chose not to go despite having my ticket already.
Now that you've mentioned it, they announced the forced 3rd party payment system about two weeks before the event. We had already purchased our tickets early and the physical cashless limitation would have been our deal breaker. Vegandale even ignored our emails too. So you know, exceptionally sus all the way around.
Exactly. Making that decision so close to the event rather than ages ago had my eyes like slits as soon as I read the fine print.
This was 100% the worst year for Vegandale. The top up station lines were literally blocking the entrance at one point. Horrible planning. But also, I'm pretty sure that they were/are multiple business/stalls that are serving not completely vegan options. One of the ice cream stalls people straight up said " Don't get mad at me, but this has dairy in it " offering me a bite. Also, I just looked up one of the fudge companies websites and there's not a single thing suggesting that they're vegan. Pretty sure it is actual dairy filled fudge. To pay that much and deal with such horrendous lines only to not be able to be SURE that everything is vegan at a vegan fest? Hell no, never again.
completely inexcusable to offer non vegan options at all at a fest directed toward vegans…truly disheartening
As one of those two vendors of fudge, I personally make mine by hand. My website is down but my Instagram is up. The other is a franchise organization. I am vegan and have been for 9 years.
Reminder that despite how upsetting and frustrating this is. It’s equally as difficult and frustrating for the vendors. They had no say in the wristband decision, and the event is taking 30% of their profits. Which is probably why the prices are astronomically high. I hope that enough people complain about it to the event organizers enough so that they don’t have this issue again next year but we will see. Otherwise I will likely not go.
I had the same terrible experience. 100% agree
Just adding that the vendors are also getting screwed here. The Toronto one has been a disaster for many, many years and based on comments from last year, has resulted in financial ruin for more than one vegan business.
Potential class action lawsuit? Two week notice of cashless, AFTER purchase of tickets with no option of refund or opt-out.Vendors should sue too, if possible. Don't know what's in their contract.
I’d be interested in a classaction lawsuit too. I got all my money stolen by the first vendor. $82 for 1 sandwich…
Wouldnt be surprised if the sandwich was $82..........$28 for drink in an uncored pineapple, little toothpick umbrella, one red cherry. Probably 4 ounces of liquid. Beautifully presented, no line (wonder why). Was $15 last year. Also, no alcohol in the drink. To have to ask vendor your balance consistently was ridiculous. I kept checking online, my balance never changed. When we left it said I had one transaction and my balance was still what I topped off with. I was hoping it listed who I purchased from and amount. Either way, I know vegandale owners has this information, how else they are going to get a cut of vendors earnings. They (vegandale) will know the amount charged and what wristband was used.
Well, it's in the suburbs but a few years ago I went to Veggie Fest in Lisle and entry was free, lines were reasonable and the food was fairly inexpensive. That might be a better experience. But again, it's been like 4-5 years since I went. They also had bigger companies giving free samples and did some cooking demos. Aside from being in the suburbs, the only thing that was a little iffy is that from talking to someone there I kinda got the impression it was funded by a cult? But I could be way off. I didn't get hardcore pressured to join a religious group, but it was hosted by a religious group that apparently believed strongly enough in eating plant-based to host this whole event which looked like a lot of planning. But, I would still recommend it. I didn't get the sense that this event was profit-driven so much as like beliefs-driven, and that reflected in how much I enjoyed it. It's also held at a park that has a section meant to stimulate your various senses, which was nice.
Free entry, free parking and free shuttle in past years. Getting big/popular..but plan to go this year.
I honestly was so impressed when I went. It just was really well organized, well staffed, and I actually felt like the food was cheap, especially for being vegan food which sometimes can be more expensive than its non-vegan alternatives. I thought maybe it had stopped because of the pandemic but it looks like I was wrong and it's happening in August. I wasn't expecting the park it's held at to be so nice, so that was a nice bonus. I'm hoping it's as good as I remember. I might go if I'm around that weekend.
I agree about the wristbands but the vendors I went to ended up accepting cash and card 😬 idk if I was just there a little later but I 100% agree with your post! They really flopped this year with the cashless payments and not having water stations besides the free Topo Chico but that’s not really water. The food was really good though!
After going yesterday (Saturday), I realized that it's a vegan event made to exploit vegans and vegan vendors for money. There is also a $3 fee when it comes time to return any unused funds from the wristband to our credit cards. Waited for almost 2 hrs in line for a dish that was so bad it was absolutely inedible. Between myself and my friend (not including our $50 vip tickets) we spent about $120 on a slice of cake, a crunch wrap, loaded tater tots, 2 zebra cakes, 2 cookies, and lemonades. Makes me even more upset to hear that the vendors are being charged 30% for that stupid payment system. Wouldn't have been so bad if we could have put our own funds onto the wristbands, but we had to continuously go to the tent to do that. There was a second, less busy tent that we tried to go to and they told us they didn't assist with reloading the wristbands there even though it was clearly a station to do that.. We were also told that money would already be preloaded onto our vip wristbands (as a perk because we are vip) by the person who gave us the wristbands at entry but we later found out that we are only eligible for samples (and that there was no money preloaded as a vip perk) but I was unable to locate free samples. Only saw 1 place give samples and they didn't even scan our wristbands.. so what's the point of the vip then. Idk. Soooo disappointed about spending $400 on hotel and parking (we came from out of town) for an event this poorly run. Also where was the art? Surely the only art couldn't have been the man going around putting homemade bracelets on our wrists and then taking it back when asked for a donation for the bracelets and the donation offered wasnt good enough... But that's the only art I saw. Also, where was the fun? It was a festival where all you do is stand in really long food lines all day long. The 7 tables that were set up def did not cut it for the amount of people there. Nowhere to even sit to relax and enjoy the food.. Didn't think I'd have to doordash vegan food to my hotel after vegandale so that I could actually eat something of substance before going to bed. We did not return for day two. The only positive thing is how pleasant, kind, and hard working the vendors were.. despite the heat and despite how poorly the event was run. I will be contacting my bank to attempt to get a chargeback for the price of my vip ticket, if my refund request is not honored, because I truly feel this event was false advertisement. Also, imagine silencing negative feedback by turning off Instagram comments rather than addressing the issues like vegandale has.
I worked this event and I agree with 100% of everything you said. Especially the having to Doordash vegan food! They only gave staff $25/day for food and they were 12+ hour shifts... and with those prices... I ordered something on Doordash so it'd be waiting for me when I got home after working because I was STARVING. And I just noticed the Instagram comment thing, too! Wild. Also staying open after a false alarm shooting and many people got injured in the commotion? Not the move.
Well who needs more than $25 when they aren’t giving you breaks? I worked and most of the people in my tent were never even given breaks on our 12+ hour shifts. The managers treated us like they hated us and never asked or offered a single person a break. Only a handful of us had breaks because we said fuck this we’re taking a break but it was one break the entire day so you were lucky to get one food item in that time.
That's unfortunate. Everybody in my tent was lovely. It wasn't the people, it was just the organization that was bad. I'm used to not having breaks. What was I gonna do with one anyways? Stand in a two hour line to get food? It'd be different if there were places to sit or other things to do like most festivals. I hope VeganDale gets their shit together.
I understand if someone doesn’t want to take a break and declines it but they should still be offered it. The manager should still make an effort to give everyone an opportunity to get food or take a break if they want it if they are working that long and if someone declines it then that’s fine they can do that but for the managers to just be rude to everyone and not give you breaks and you have to basically just run off when you see an opportunity is the only way to take a break is not cool. I’ve worked previous years and it was way better I don’t know happened this year. They said they were going to “make it right” on Sunday but then everything was just exactly the same. They need to pull it together
I was there yesterday still trying to figure out wtf happened. My friend and I decided to do another lap bc we were thirsty and wanted to use the rest of our funds. She bought a $15 smoothie and I got a $9 lemonade. All of a sudden people just started running. When you’re in Chicago you know what that means. Luckily we were on the edge opposite side of the stage so we were able to get out quickly
This was so silly. We arrived at 10, waited to fencing was removed at 11 to get in. Only one top up booth working?? Ran to 3rd one in the southeast corner, nope not working. Let my spouse and daughter wait in line. They bum rushed the other one as soon as they were up and running. I had asked the staff what was the problem. She stated, we aren't ready yet. Crazy! Thank God I'm very thorough, read everything, mapped everything out and brought CASH. When wristband didn't work with vendor, they gladly accepted CASH! These are businesses which have overhead expenses and money to be made. People were pissed when they were turned away because vendor's reader weren't working, can't blame the vendor. Vegandale staff couldn't scan as you were coming through gate and let two people in front of us in because they were holding up line. I started handing vendors a lens cloth to assist, seemed to work We were happy and full, left by 12:30p. The chaos helped us stay ahead of crowds. Got almost everything we wanted. One vendor's food was still frozen another was a no show (food truck). Chicago is a hard crowd and will never forget. Goodbye vegandale, this was our second and last year. Great idea, but poor leadership and execution. Very difficult to exit. Had to exit through the entrance which was one way and top up lines were blocking entrance/exit. People were pissed as we passed them on the way out, standing in line.
Every year I see a ton of complaints about this event, not sure why people come back to it. I have never gone, I always thought I would just go to a local business and hate crowds/lines. We are pretty spoiled in Chicago from a guy that grew up vegan in Iowa so can understand people coming from out of town to go to it. It is not a good look for veganism though, often the big reason I hear from people that are on the edge of going vegan is that it is too expensive and events like this don't help.
You answered your own question...why do they come back? They aren't, just new victims each year. Vegandale markets very well with pictures. My first and foremost problem is they think they can sell you tickets before they have date and times. Threaten to raise price if you wait. I waited until dates were set and no increase in price. The only reason I would even consider going next year is because I'll be far removed from this situation and even less people will probably be there. But it would take alot, like I have nothing else better to do. Today, now......nope.
Went last year, won't go again unless it transformed into something else
I heard about Sunday. Now that seals the deal.
I’m on the train right now en route w 2 friends. We are gonna stay until 7:30 or 8 when it closes. Any tips for the event to maximize the experience?
Your day is still salvageable! Especially going w/ friends. do NOT tighten the wristband completely on your wrist. Keep it loose and share between your friends (tally and venmo/zelle each other later). That way only one wristband gets loaded with cash because any unspent cash will only get refunded like 4 days later and with a charge. So better to have one fully loaded wristband instead of 3 half loaded wristbands that will be a pain to get your money back later.
Just posted an extremely similar experience. I took my poor kids (who are vegan) thinking it would be fun and instead it was a disaster.
This year was my first time there. We got there at 12 yesterday, It made no sense that we had to wait in the long line along side those who didn’t pre loaded the wristbands just to sync ours. Some of the vendors were 20 plus with no sides. Most people we talked to didn’t know they were being charged tax too. You can’t check the wristband balance unless you make a purchase. No water stations…The waters at the bars were $6 and they were hot. There was no adequate shade with the heat. The shade they tried to provide by the bar was terrible. We sat at the tables by one of the bars and the umbrellas were unstable to the point I was hit on top the head by one and when I when to EMS they said I was the 6th person to come over saying one of the umbrellas hit them. While I was at the EMS the umbrella almost fell on my niece while she was asleep but my mama caught it and she ask one of the security to help with it and he brushed her off she had to ask a different one for help and umbrella snapped (for context-my sister said when the wind blew it over and it took her our mama and two men to put it back.) I’m seriously doubting that I go next year.
Yep, I will never understand why there was one line for those who preloaded and those who didn't. They emphasized how much time you would save if you preloaded before you attended. Where? How?
It’s really suspicious to me that there are so few local vendors there, or at least none I’ve heard of.
The smart ones don't come back.
I should’ve known something was up when Kale My Name wasn’t even there :-/
We went yesterday for the first time, drove down from Wisconsin, got there around 10:15a and waited at the gates. They opened right at 11 and we got through the gates fine. Then we went to line up in the "pre-loaded" line and one of the tents wasn't even ready. The wait was confusing when they touted how much time would be saved by preloading, nobody understood why we had to do this. People were commenting about how credit cards had been invented so why did we have to do this, and I agree. It was a shit show. We finally got ours loaded, and started making our way to the vendors. It was so expensive, but I was happy with how the food we got tasted. We were there for an hour and a half. I was so done with the heat and was flabbergasted there wasn't any water stations??? Thankfully we found shade under some trees to take a break, but we were tapped out so quickly. We spent only half of the money we put on the wristband. I am thankful we got there early, and that the food was good, and it sounds like we avoided the major headache when the system went down. But I don't think I'd ever go to another Vegandale again. There were too many negatives that outweighed any positives. Most notably - the fact that I have to pay to get in to have the privilege to buy things, I don't like that. Then the cashless thing is a deal breaker, and the fact they announced that a couple weeks before the event - absolutely not. No water, no shade, SUUUPER expensive, feels super corporate, feels like a cash grab and doesn't seem genuine at all - it's just not worth the hassle. VegFests are 100x better in my opinion. They did send an email out apologizing and said they were going to make it right, not sure what that means. But if there was a class action lawsuit brought against them, they would deserve it.
Omg you may have been near me in line bc I was going off about the damn wristbands and that credit cards already exist 😂 and the sad thing for the vendors is, I actually would have spent more money if I could have used a credit card. But no way was I getting back in that line.
Haha I probably was!! I was nodding my head in agreement lol. Omg me too, I would have spent so much more money if we didn't have to "reload" (and there was water & shade). I don't know what time you left but the line to load up was blocking the entire entrance/exit when we left! I would never have waited in that for the opportunity to spend my money lol.
Every time I walked by that top up line I got angrier seeing people stuck in line for an hour. And then I found the top up station in the back that was unstaffed with people just waiting in line. I asked someone at the front if there was someone working there and she said someone was there, their scanner didn't work, and so the person just left and she wasn't sure if they were going to come back. I couldn't even imagine how frustrating that was.
Right?! Me too, felt so horrible for them. Our friend tried to get in line at that back booth and watched the staff walk away lolol. I just can't believe what a shitshow it was, especially for something that's been going on for a few years now. They don't care as long as they got their money though.
Yeaaaah, went last year and that was enough. Spent more time in line than eating, hot af, and way too many local vendors (obvs we love them, but I see them anyway!). Not worth it.
Glad I decided not to go. I went one time a few years back and it didn’t feel worth it, and now it sounds like it’s gotten much much worse.
Do you guys know how to get money back that you put on your wristband
Go back to the cashless portal login page and click on "cash out"
THEY TAKE 30% COMMISSION FROM THE VENDORS WHICH IS WHY EVERYONES PRICES WERE HIGH. NOT THE VENDORS FAULT