For its fourth year, the Worcester Vegan Trunk or Treat October 28 was a spooktacular event for both veggie lovers and children in costume, bringing in the largest crowd VegFest has seen over the years.

“There is a huge growth in vegan people and members of our own community here as well in Worcester and New England,” said Manda Rose, co-founder of VegFest, Inc. “People are moving toward a plant based diet, and those people have families and are seeking plant based alternatives to traditional holiday celebrations and food.”

According to Rose, the estimates by the United Nations showed that as of the start of 2021 approximately 79 million people worldwide are vegan. 

“I was inspired to create this event because I wanted there to be something for our family and other vegan children,” said Rose, who has been following a plant based lifestyle for 13 years. “Every year that we’ve had this event, other parents/caregivers have come up to our VegFest team to say how thankful they were to have this happening locally.”

Families decorated their trunks and mingled in the parking lot of Nu Kitchen. 

Julie Stultz and her son Liam dressed up and decorated their trunk. Liam was dressed as a Manga character, and he decorated the trunk with a lot of his stuffed animals.

“I’m vegan and have been for some time now, and he is a vegan friendly kid,” Stultz said. “I just love that they were having this option and was excited to go.”

Stultz, who works by trade with fitness and nutrition, offered a basket of fruity vegan treats and one filled with chocolatey options. 

“After the last year and a half, Halloween is so important to come together as a community,” Stultz said. “But from an environmental standpoint, Halloween is a little bit eh. But I love that fact that this can promote choosing better. It’s a great way to say we can still do the fun stuff but make better choices.”

Children were encouraged to dress up in costume and go from car to car to “trunk or treat” and receive some goodies. 

“No child should have to feel left out, no animals should have to suffer for our holiday celebrations, and luckily there are so many vegan candy options that avoid ingredients like dairy and eggs but still taste amazing,” Rose said. 

Go Max Go, UnReal, and The Good Bean all donated vegan goodies as well. The VegFest team members handed them out to trunk-or-treaters. 

“We have prizes for the best trunk decoration and best costumes,” Rose said. “This year we will be giving away two Nu Kitchen gift certificates and bottles of UPrise Foods NOOCH-It Cashew Grated Cheeze to the lucky winners.”

The event also attracted those who are not vegan.

“It’s in the community we’re in,” Yajaira Almodovar said. “It’s not because I’m vegan but because of the community.”

Almodovar’s children, Reign, 8, and Rhoyal, 6, trick or treated last year in Connecticut at a race track, and Almodovar said that similarly to the VegFest event, “it was awesome.”

“It’s back to a little bit normal,” Almodovar said. “It’s great to see everyone out here.”

Reign dressed up as Harry Potter, and Rhoyal was Venom.

The event also drew in parents that were still being cautious about Covid-19. VegFest offered hand sanitizer and complimentary masks at the VegFest table, and the event was primarily held outdoors, with the option for attendees to purchase food from Nu Kitchen inside. 

“It was a good opportunity to try out trick or treating for our daughter,” Alexandria Magann said. “She’s two. She’s never really done it before.”

Magann’s daughter was dressed up like a postwoman, and she sat in a wagon pulled by her dad throughout the event.

“VegFest is most excited to be out in the community in person again,” Rose said. “We have been really missing that personal connection, as have our attendees.”

NU Kitchen provided a special vegan menu that night as well. The all-plant based courses with Halloween-themed names included: veggie witches magick potion (vegetable juice), spooktacular spicy chicken tacos, no screamin’ steak and cheese panini, all day breakfast boo-rito, enchanted pineapple pizza, and dragon’s dumplings (baked fresh edamame dumplings)