The 12th annual Pittsburgh VegFest, hosted by the non-profit Justice For Animals, was held at Allegheny Commons Park East on the North Side on Saturday, August 1, 2026. It promoted animal welfare and featured plant-based foods, retail shops, several live bands, and activities. Admission was free, and local and regional vendors sold foods, drinks, and crafts.
My husband and I attended this event for the first time. We paid to park our vehicle in a nearby garage. We thought that Allegheny Commons Park was a fantastic space for the event. It contained a beautiful water fountain, trees, and grassy areas. It was large enough to accommodate the vendors' tents and trucks, a stage for live bands, visitors, and more. I enjoyed seeing pigs, a turtle, people's dogs and cats, and a person dressed up in a carrot costume. Plenty of bins were available for compostables, trash, and recyclables.
I am not a vegetarian or a vegan, but I also do not eat meats and dairy everyday. At this festival, I focused on purchasing plant-based foods from several tents and trucks. (I wrote separate Yelp reviews for each of those individual businesses.) Overall, I thought that the foods tasted good to excellent. I wanted to try food from the food truck Oh My Cod, but the line of customers was very long. read more