Second annual Tacoma Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale recap

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A little late, but worth the wait.

As noted a few posts back, on Sunday, April 29 two friends and I (Joy and Dan) held the second annual Tacoma edition of Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale at King’s Books. I had another fundraiser to attend and arrived late, but it was still hopping, brimming with delicious treats, and visited by great people towards the end.

After all was said and done we raised $590 total for Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest! We definitely couldn’t have done it without all the wonderful bakers, volunteers, our gracious second-time host King’s Books, and everyone else who helped spread the word and make this event a success. Thank you!

I’m sure you’re dying to see some photos of the delicious baked goods, so here they are. All photos are by Joy Clendening and Dan Martin.

Rice crispy treats, cookies and macaroons.

I made Coffee Chip Muffins again, and Joy made some delicious/healthy breakfast muffins and lemon chia bread, which is so yummy.

Large lit table with info from Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and vegan books that are available at King's.

I think one of my favorite items for sale this year was Leah's pesto rolls, a combination of two delicious things.

Beautiful cupcakes and cookie display and boxes.

Like last year, we also had a giant table filled with nothing but vegan literature, info on the Chimp Sanctuary and also vegan/animal rights books for sale at King’s Books. No leftover baked goods from this event went to waste, and all extras were taken to the Tacoma Rescue Mission.

Did you hold a Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale event this year in your city? If so, how’d it go and what treats did you enjoy?

Get your sweet treat on at the second annual Tacoma Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale!

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Last year, two vegan lady friends and I (Joy and Lisa) thought that it was high time Tacoma was represented in Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale week, so we held what we believed to be Tacoma’s first vegan bake sale at the wonderful King’s Books. In our eyes, it was a massive success. We raised over $600 for Precious Life Animal Sanctuary, shared amazing vegan baked goods with friends and strangers, and brought more awareness to the vegan lifestyle and ethic in our town. And this year, we’re doing it again!

Sweet flier image courtesy of Dan Martin.

As you may have seen me mention via the VM FB/Twitter accounts, we’re holding the second annual Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale – Tacoma edition, (adorably titled “Sweet Eats!”) at King’s Books this Sunday, April 29, from noon to 4 p.m. This time around Joy, her man Dan and I are heading up the effort, and we hope to see some lovely faces come out and support this year’s cause: Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

Here’s more info from the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale Tacoma Facebook event page:

We’re doing it again, baking up a storm of vegan goodies for charity. This year all the proceeds are going to Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW.
If you are interested in volunteering in any way, whether it be baking, set up or tabling, email me at: joy_clendening@yahoo.com
Of course anything you bake has to be vegan and it will have to be in sealed containers.
We look forward to tasty your yummy treats and giving a big donation to the Chimps!

Gracious sweet pea of King’s Books was kind enough to let us hold the event at his store again, and we’re amped to fill up as many tables as we can with sweet treats of all sorts. From loaded with sugar and flour, to gluten-free, raw and low-sugar, whatever your preferences, it’ll be represented at this bountiful spring vegan event.

Though the event is only a few days away, we’re always looking for/are welcoming of helpful volunteers. If you’re interested in contributing baked (and non!) goods or helping us set up the event, break it down or assist with the actual sale, please e-mail Joy at the address above. Our goal is always to raise as much funds as we can for the chimps, and volunteers are definitely an integral part of that happening.

Scenes from last year's Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale - 253 Edition.

I also want to make sure that everyone knows that you do not have to be vegan to come! You just have to love delicious treats! Though if you are baking, we do ask that you make your baked goods vegan, as not doing so would kind of defeat our whole purpose. If you’d like more info on Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale week 2012, want to get a glimpse of all the places participating, get some tips on vegan baking, or learn how to start a vegan bake sale in your neck of the woods, check out their amazingly resourceful website. And please be sure to let us know you’ll be attending the event by RSVPing to it on Facebook.

My goal is to bake espresso brownies, because the idea of the Valhalla brownies at Corina always make me swoon, but they’re sadly not vegan-friendly. I want to make another sort of brownie variation, and may whip up some Fudgy Wudgy Blueberry Brownies from “Veganomicon” that Roxanne made for our underground supper club, as they were a huge hit with vegans and non-veg people alike. Whether brownies are up your alley or not, please come out if you can, and I hope to see you Sunday!

The upcoming 2012 Tacoma Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale has been written about around the Internet! Check it out:

Post Defiance: Don’t be Scared, it’s just a Vegan Bake Sale

Tacoma Weekly: World Wide Vegan Bakesale in Tacoma on Sunday

King’s Books: Vegan Bake Sale

Highlights from the Tacoma Vegan Bake Sale + Forks Over Knives

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On May 1, the long-awaited Tacoma Vegan Bake Sale Benefiting Precious Life Sanctuary as a part of Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale took place at King’s Books. The event was a great time and a success as we ended up raising a total of $610 for the sanctuary! I recently volunteered there, so I know some animals who will definitely be benefiting from the generosity and kindness of all who made the event possible.

Beforehand, we planners (Joy, Lisa and myself) didn’t know what to expect, as Tacoma hasn’t had a previous vegan bake sale (that I’m aware of) and because we’d never done anything like this before. But so many people came in, bought bags of cookies, dropped off donations and were generally really happy that something like this WAS happening in Tacoma, which was one of the best things we heard all day.

The photos will speak for the event more than I can, so here they are. (All photos courtesy of very talented local photographer Roxanne Cooke, [zoomed images of baked goods] and co-planner/Tacoma Animal Rights Book Club Organizer Lisa Patton).

We had not one, but two literature tables! This was the second one, which had lots of "why vegan" info as well as fliers for upcoming events and a new Veg-Friendly Dining Out guide for Tacoma that Lisa made. We also highlighted some vegan titles available for purchase at King's Books and many of them sold. The first table had info about Precious Life Animal Sanctuary and an awesome video of photos and footage taken at the sanctuary by Dan, Joy's boyfriend.

Macaroons were hands down the most popular cookie choice for bakers and I think we had at least four varieties.

These were one of my contributions to the bake sale: Tomato Rosemary Scones from Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Vegan Brunch.

Co-planner Joy offered up some paradise cookies and gorgeous mini strawberry cheesecakes.

Other co-planner Lisa made a trio of cookies: Lazy Samoas from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, chocolate almond brittle and Raspberry Linzer Torte cookies (also from Isa/Terry's cookie book).

Roxanne contributed a few things to the bake sale including regular and mini-sized cupcakes, and these tasty chocolate chip cookies.

Visitors perusing the offerings.

Victoria (far left) invited many members of her family and they came in waves to pick up baked goods and enjoy them in good company!

Last but not least, King's Books' mascot (well, one of the two) Miko at one point just laid back and got comfortable in the middle of the event. Bake sales are exhausting for cute kitties.

We started out with 6 tables filled baked goods and kept removing them until eventually we were down to just one. We had a few leftovers, boxed them up and Lisa took them to this week’s Tacoma Food Not Bombs feed yesterday. We all had such a great time and I really have to thank King’s Books for letting us hold the event there, and also just for being so supportive of all the vegan things that are starting to happen in Tacoma. More special thanks go to: all the bakers, volunteers, people who passed out fliers and spread the word electronically or otherwise and to everyone who stopped in and helped the cause. We felt like it went so well (and also got many people asking when more events like this would be happening here), that we’re definitely already starting to plan more for later in the year, so be on the lookout for info about those!

- – - – -

As some of you may have heard or read about already, the new documentary film “Forks Over Knives” opens nationwide on Friday, May 6. The movie explores the rise and increasing number of degenerative illnesses that are slowly taking over the country. The reason the film truly resonates with the vegan community is that it ponders treating these life-threatening diseases not with surgery or pills, but with plant-based food. It also highlights the lives of Dr. T. Colin Campbell (ever heard of a little book called The China Study?) and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic), their dedication to research on curing disease with whole, raw foods and interviews with individuals who are doing just that and succeeding.

An early preview of the film is showing tonight in Seattle at the Landmark Metro, but it will show again on Monday, May 9 and Friday, May 13 at the Varsity Theatre in Seattle. Check out the film’s website for times and exact locations and for those nearest you. I recommend carpooling and getting friends and family together to attend the screenings. It looks to be an inspiring and influential film, and I’ve heard nothing but great things from friends who’ve seen it already in other cities. Look for a review of it after I see it next week.

Next post: first giveaway and blog interview!

Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale in the 253

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So, you know that awesome event that I’ve been hinting at both here and on the VM Twitter/Facebook pages? Well folks, the title of this post gives away the secret: Two other Tacoma vegan ladies that I met through the Tacoma Animal Rights Book Club, (Lisa and Joy) and I separately got the idea of planning a vegan bake sale as a part of the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale, found out of our separate plans and decided to join forces in order to take over our little vegan world. Thus, the idea for this event was born.

(Isn’t the flier image awesome? We all have Joy’s bf Dan to thank for this beaut).

Here’s more info that will appear on our flier, which you will hopefully see soon while about the town:

Please join us as for a bake sale being held as a part of Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale (April 23-May, 2011) here in Tacoma at King’s Books!

The event takes place May 1 from 12-4 p.m. All proceeds raised will benefit Precious Life Animal Sanctuary in Edmonds. We will have information on the sanctuary as well as other local vegan groups available at the sale. If you want to volunteer to work tables or bake, let Joy know at: joy_clendening@yahoo.com. We’ll e-mail you some more info on what you can bring, how to label the goods, what time to show up if volunteering and more.

We also want to put together a printed, cookbook style collection of the recipes being made for the event, (which will be for sale to benefit the sanctuary), so please e-mail the recipe of the baked good you’ll be bringing in advance to the email address above. If coming to buy goodies, please make sure to bring your own Tupperware and/reusable bags. Thanks for coming, spreading the word and supporting the sanctuary!


sweet pea of King’s Books was kind enough to allow us to hold the event at the bookstore and we’re excited to be there. We definitely do need more bakers and volunteers to help us with the preparing and selling the goods and setting up/clean up, so please e-mail me at dawn [at] veganmoxie.com or Joy, whose info is above if you have any interest in either. We want to make this event a success and donate as much as we can to Precious Life, and volunteers and bakers will be a huge part of that. We’re also excited about the baked good cookbook we’ll be putting together to sell! I know I’ve gone to a few bake sales and thought, “Wow, this brownie’s amazing! Wonder how I can replicate it at home?” Well, wonder no more, because you’ll have all the recipes at the event in your hands as you leave if you pick one up.

Also, please know that you don’t have to be vegan to bake or come! This is event is open to all, and all we ask is that if you plan to bake, please make all of your goods vegan, as the event is composed of vegan baked goods only. For more info on vegan baking, how to wrap your baked goods for sale and Worldwide Vegan Bake sale in general, check out their wonderful and informative website here. You can also RSVP to the event on Facebook here.

Please come out if you can. I can’t wait to be swimming in a sea of baked goods in TACOMA!