Vegan festival in New York compared to Fyre Festival by angry plant-based mobs
A recent vegan festival has gone viral on social media after unhappy attendees complained of 90-minute-long queues and seriously poor facilities and amenities. People were so unhappy with the lack of organisation and chaos that some users on X even began likening the event to the infamous mess that was Fyre Festival. If this isn’t a prime example of how to thoroughly piss off a mob of vegans, then I don’t know what is.
The travelling food and music festival, aptly named Vegandale, kicked off in Queens, New York City on Saturday 14 September 2024. The event attracted tens of thousands of people, all of whom were excited to embrace their plant-based selves and taste some zesty vegan samples—basically, it’s Bad Vegan star Sarma Melngailis’s idea of heaven.
However, things didn’t really go as planned. A couple of attendees who spoke to The New York Times, some of whom spent up to $90 on their ticket for a ‘VIP’ experience, told the publication that most people didn’t even manage to get into the festival, “citing bottlenecks at the entrance caused by too few metal detectors and a lengthy ticketing process.”
@chrissysosmiley_ ♬ 30 minutes - liya🎀
Vegandale was so poorly run and no one is talking about how someone PASSED OUT in line today and we were yelling for medics. Had everyone waiting in the heat for 2 hours and none of the vendors were allowed to sell water be so serious pic.twitter.com/ZV5x7ULRwb
— The Pumpkin King (@pinecone2532) September 14, 2024
If you were trying to go to #Vegandale today do not bother. People were waiting HOURS to get in. They got like 2 people working the ticket line. pic.twitter.com/gECruhq1v1
— You (@femmefin) September 14, 2024
“We were starving and cranky and miserable,” festival-goer Rocco Marrongelli recounted. “We were starving and cranky and miserable. I don’t think they had the manpower to face the waves of vegans that were trying to crash those gates,” Marrongelli continued.
Moreover, if you were lucky enough to make it inside the event, you were faced with even more chaos. Water shortages, little to zero shade, and a complete lack of proper bathrooms made the entire experience feel less like a schoomzy vegan festival in New York and a lot more like Woodstock 1999.
Vegandale was such a disappointment this year. Citifield is absolutely the worse location they could have chosen. Never again.
— Cynth (@feralcynthaquil) September 15, 2024
did anyone actually get inside fyre festival i mean vegandale?
— bergamot babie (@desamandes) September 17, 2024
Waiting on line to get into #Vegandale. It's been over an hour and I still don't see the front, yet I am seeing reviews about crazy lines inside, vendors running out of food, and none of the advertised free samples. This is poorly organized and woefully understaffed
— Emily Sachs (@MadderMadNatter) September 14, 2024
One user was so mad about the entire drama of it all that he shared on X that comparing Vegandale to Fyre Festival was actually an insult to Billy McFarland’s sh*t show.
Calling today's #Vegandale festival in NYC the "Fyre Festival" is an insult to the Fyre Festival. @vegan @VegNews Hands down the worst-run event I've ever seen. They should be investigated for fraud @FBI @NewYorkFBI
— Michael X. James (@mxjames) September 15, 2024
Responding to the criticism, a Vegandale spokesperson stated: “We faced a few logistical challenges, which are part of working with a new venue. It was our first year at Citi Field, but the overall experience was really positive.”
So, if McFarland is planning on actually making Fyre Festival II happen, it’s not just rich white people he’ll need to take into consideration, it’s the vegans too. Watch out.
