World Vegan Day 2006

Got off to a flying start, Jodi and Angie set up the outdoor BBQ in the middle of Wynyard Park (permission granted of course!) along with an Animal Liberation stall. A plethora of volunteers turned up one by one which was amazing to see.

The bread rolls arrived early, the vegies arrive even earlier, so we started chopping lettuce, tomatoes and onions provided to us by Shatha's parents (legends thank you) and getting general preparations under way. The burger deliver people were called in the morning to ensure the order was going to be on time, we were told the delivery was in the system and all was A Okay.

Leaflets and a press release went out the day before, however the crowd was unpredictable as this was the first World Vegan Day BBQ Sydney had seen. Along with the mention in the MX newspaper, we were sure that at least a few people would turn up for it.

• At about 11am the burgers were supposed to be at the park and getting set to go on the BBQ. At 11.30am they were no where to be seen. Stress? No of course not, all will be ok.
• 11.45am. No burgers yet, stress? No, let's just call to see about our order.
• .....Hmm our order is on its way to Queensland is it? Right stress? Yep for sure.
• 11.46am. 6 volunteers run of in 3 different directions in pairs of two. Their mission (they chose to accept) was to buy all the vege-burgers and not-dogs you can possibly find and bring them back in a hurry...and I mean a hurry!
  
• 11.55am. First lot of burgers purchased from Coles in Wynyard arrived, BBQ is already fired up and cooking starts
  
• 11.56am. The queue is starting to take shape..
  
• 12.00pm. The queue is significant, Louis (on BBQ) don' look up!
  
• 12.05pm. Volunteers began talking to the crowd to explain our predicament and petitions to sign
  
• 12.10pm. First burger off the BBQ and placed, not gently, but with great haste on the first bun, professionally prepared by ex KFC worker Jodi Ruckley.
  
• 12.15pm. More burgers and not-dogs arrive.
• By 12.30pm the queue was moving along slowly and people received, with thanks, a free vege-burger along with a Go Vegan booklet. It was amazing to see so many people in the park reading the little yellow booklet whilst munching on their cruelty free lunch. Around 500 burgers were given away as promised and the day was, in the end, a huge success.

Thanks to all volunteers who helped on the day, it proved what a great team we are and also showed that pressure situations are second nature to us.

Next year will be bigger and better and with any luck, we'll get our burgers on time, if not we know what to do.