Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrienne Lusk.
Hi Adrienne, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Texas Veg Foundation became a 501c3 educational nonprofit organization in July 2011.
We hosted our first free public education event, Texas VegFest, on March 31st, 2012 at Fiesta Gardens in Austin.
Texas leads the nation in cattle production, CO2 emissions, heart disease, and diabetes. Research has shown that plant-based diets can help reduce these risks, benefiting our health, the environment, and animals.
Communities are asking for access to available resources. Our team wanted to connect communities to those resources in an educational and fun atmosphere that was free to the public and welcoming to anyone looking to learn about the benefits of plant-based diets.
We’re celebrating 12 years at Fiesta Gardens in April 2027 and look forward to connecting communities to vegan, plant-based resources for another year!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Providing free educational resources on the benefits of plant-based diets in the top cattle producing state in the nation, is not easy!
Providing free anything is difficult because there’s always expenses, so there’s an immediate disadvantage and uphill climb.
To meet our $35,000 overhead each year; we collect payments from event participants and vendors, collect public donations, and apply for grants.
If our annual event is rained out, as was the case for April 2026, our annual budget doubles in order to meet the expenses for a rescheduled event, which we experienced in September 2026.
Experiencing a rain out in April, doubling some of our expenses for a rescheduled event in September, and having to pivot into fundraising over the summer, made 2026 one of our most challenging years.
Community and volunteer support, donations and a generous grant, carried us through the stress of the year and put us on a path for success at our September 2026 rescheduled event, and for our April 2027 event!
Organizing over the last 15 years has brought many challenges. We’ve been extremely lucky in working with extraordinary volunteers who are dedicated and passionate about our mission and willing to go the extra miles needed, not only to survive year after year, but to make sure we’re meeting the needs of our communities and the resources that they are asking for.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Texas Veg Foundation is a federal 501c3 organization focused on educational events.
Texas VegFest is the Foundation’s main event hosted annually the first Saturday in April each year at Fiesta Gardens in Austin.
The event is a free public education event that celebrates the health, environmental, and animal benefits of vegan, plant-based diets by utilizing cooking demonstrating, activities, presentations, workshops, samples, and more – all free to the public!
We’re celebrating our 12th year at Fiesta Gardens on Saturday April 3rd, 2027 between 11am and 6pm.
The event is free to the public and anticipates 5,000 attendees.
If you’d like to volunteer, sponsor, donate, vend, share your mission, present, or share some music, you can contact us through our website at: texasvegfest.com/signup.
Stay posted on our 2027 event, as well as our feature at the Witte Museum’s “Gather ‘Round” exhibit going on now through February 7th (wittemuseum.org/exhibitions/gather-round), on our website and socials!
Texasvegfest.com
@txvegfest
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We’re looking to collaborate with various areas of our communities for our Witte Museum feature going on through February 2027, and for Texas VegFest 2027.
Contact us through our website and social media:
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Texasvegfest.com
- Instagram: @txvegfest
- Facebook: @@txvegfest
- Youtube: @@txvegfest
- Other: https://Txveg.org
