Raffle Prizes Galore!

A BRIEF GUIDE TO VEGAN POTLUCKING

1. Bring a vegan* dish to feed eight adults. If you could consume everything you brought by yourself, it's probably not enough. If you're coming with another person, be sure to double the amount of your dish.

2. Try to bring something you'd be excited to eat. It's no problem if it's something you picked up from the prepared food section at Whole Foods or Wheatsville, especially if it's not among the popular choices so many of us get for take-out regularly. It's also OK to bring a giant bowl of fresh fruit chunks and berries--but try not to give in to the convenience of a bag of chips and jar of salsa from the aisle. Just a little thought and effort goes a long way to make enjoyable potluck dishes.
And we really want to encourage you to bring something you made. Potlucks are always better the more homemade food that there is. There are tons of easy vegan recipes all over the Web that you could easily make in the afternoon before you come. Check out this Lone Star Plate article for a list of suggestions.

3. Be sure to bring your own plates, utensils, beverage, and a serving utensil for your dish. The best thing would be to bring plastic dishes that you can take home with you to wash, rather than throw paper ones in the trash. The recycling bin at the park is not very large.

4. Don't take huge portions or seconds before everyone has had an opportunity to get food. With such a large amount of people, it will be impossible for everyone to get a taste of everything, but do consider how many people could get a small portion from what you're about to put on your plate. If the dish is divided into small portions for you, please take just one.

*Some of you may be new or inexperienced when it comes to vegan ingredients, so aside from the obvious "no meat, seafood, cheese, dairy or eggs", here are some common "uh-ohs" that people don't always think to look for or ask about: honey, butter, chicken or beef broth, lard, gelatin, egg noodles, anchovies, and whey.

Sixth Semi-annual
Gathering of the Tribes

Saturday April 20th
4:00pm to 8:00pm at Pease Park

Come celebrate Earth Day at Austin's largest vegan potluck picnic! In addition to tons of delicious food and great company, there will be live music raffle prizes!

Please bring a VEGAN dish to feed eight adults- no meat or animal products of any kind (dairy, egg, meat or chicken broths, honey, animal fats like lard, etc etc). Also, please be sure to bring your own plate, utensils, and beverage (no glass) -and don't forget your serving utensil!. You'll also need to let us know your dishes' ingredients at check-in, to help those with food sensitivities.

We want this to be a great experience for everyone- ESPECIALLY in the food department! Please be sure to read the notes and tips on how to be a good potlucker in the "BRIEF GUIDE TO VEGAN POTLUCKING" section on the right.

Austin singer/songwriter Omarr Awake will be bringing us his brand of original rock and 70s soul, as a solo performer. Plus we'll have Big Bald Mike from Bonebreaker Barbell performing some instrumentals on acoustic guitar.

HOW THIS ALL WORKS

The picnic is held at Pease Park (the south end at the picnic tables section). Click here for a Google map that shows exactly where in the park we'll be. The parking is limited to the residential streets in the area, so please be considerate of the people who live there. Also try to carpool if you can, but at any rate be prepared to park a little further away and walk in. If you have any of your own folding chairs or similar, you might want to bring them, we're not sure how quickly we'll fill the seating. If you have a folding table you're willing to bring, that stands a good chance of coming in handy!

When you arrive, please come to the check-in table at the front before you take your food to the table. You'll sign in, tell us about what's in your dish so we can make an ingredients card, pick up some literature, and get a free door prize ticket (which will be gray. Then you can move down to purchase your actual raffle tickets (which are red). Then you take your food to the food table on the left, where there'll be signs for the different kinds of dishes (appetizers, entrees, salads, side dishes, desserts, etc)

There will be electricity at the park available (it was requested as part of the reservation), but it's on a power pole that is some distance away from the picnic tables. Last year we set up a table right next to the pole just to give people who brought electric appliances a place to put them. So if you want to bring a dish that you want to keep warm like a crock pot, we should be able to accommodate you, but we can't make any promises since there are many ways the electricity could turn out to be unavailable.

If you're coming as part of a group or organization, we welcome and encourage you to bring whatever printed materials or other stuff you use to inform people about your group. We'll try to have space on one of the picnic tables available for distribution, but we won't have any folding tables that we can give you to use. You're welcome to bring your own, and we'll make sure you get recognized during the event.

Please be sure to come at 4:00pm instead of 5:00, we're doing this an hour earlier this year so we don't end in the dark. Also, we (there's just two of us!) could REALLY use help at the park! If some of you would like to come just a little earlier at 3:30, we need help getting things set up, and then getting everyone checked in when the arrivals start! Then when we're all done, PLEASE pitch in to help clean the park up. We get charged if we leave trash or items behind.

Lastly: the whole reason the Gathering of the Tribes was conceived was to bring all of Austin's different groups of vegans and vegetarians together in one place, and help them MEET NEW PEOPLE. We all spend lots of time with our friends at the events we go to week after week, month after month. When you come to the Gathering tomorrow, make an effort to mingle and introduce yourself, and then consider sitting while you eat with people who you've just met, so you can get to know each other. This is how we build our community!