Week of Apr 23 - 29

This week has a little bit of everything. There's a big Saturday to plan around with two events with one address, morning through night. There’s also a Friday social if you're looking to ease into the weekend with good company.

On the news side, there's a festival update that's been circulating in the community and is worth a proper read, a surprisingly heated sandwich situation at a beloved east end bakery, and a personal story regarding how lucky we are to have a certain organization in this city.

This Week:

Toronto Vegan Drinks – April Social

📅 Friday, April 24
🕒 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
📍 La Vegan: 1450 Danforth Ave
🎟️ Free to attend (pay for your own drinks/food)

A casual, monthly social gathering hosted on the last Friday of every month by Toronto Vegan Meetup. Attendees are invited to bring veg and non-veg friends to mingle over drinks and food.

VegStock! Toronto's First Vegan Market of 2026

📅 Saturday, April 25
🕒 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
📍 108 Dundas St W, 2nd Floor
🎟️ Free admission

A new indoor vegan market hosted at Wishbone Animal Rights Lab ("The Lab"). The market is a casual drop-in event featuring a variety of plant-based food and drink vendors, wellness products, artists and makers, cooking demos, and family-friendly activities.

Earth Night Toronto 2026

📅 Saturday, April 25
🕒 6:30 - 10:00 p.m. (follows VegStock daytime market)
📍 108 Dundas St W, 2nd Floor
🎟️ $15

Toronto's inaugural Earth Night event opens with a sound healing session at 7:00 p.m., followed by a dance party with a local DJ lineup. All food and drinks are vegan, with Sausage Party as the food vendor and canned mocktails available for purchase. A portion of ticket proceeds benefits Wishbone Animal Rights Lab and DJs for Climate Action.

(Event details are accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of publishing. Events are intended to be vegan, but details may change, please confirm directly with the organizer if you have specific concerns.)

Product of the Week

Each week, I share a vegan product I personally use or trust. Some links are affiliate links, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I genuinely stand behind.

Worth Noting:

VegTO Fest 2026 Cancelled

VegTO Fest, Toronto's long-running free plant-based festival organized by the Toronto Vegetarian Association, will not take place in 2026. The city had initially offered potential dates but later withdrew them to make way for its own FIFA World Cup programming, and no suitable alternate venue could be secured in time. The festival, which has run almost uninterrupted since 1985, has also acknowledged the difficult economic climate, noting that vendors, sponsors, and attendees have found it increasingly hard to participate over the past two years. VegTO says it is not scrapping the festival permanently, but rather taking the year to rethink and rebuild, with hopes of returning in 2027. In the meantime, the organization plans to shift its focus to smaller in-person and virtual events, seminars, and workshops, and will be sending out a community survey in the coming weeks to gather input on what members want to see.

Blackbird Sandwiches

I don't know about you, but a good grab-and-go vegan sandwich in this city is already hard enough to come by and one great option just disappeared. Blackbird Bakery on Queen Street East has removed its only vegan option from the sandwich menu, a change that was quickly flagged in the Toronto Vegans Facebook group and picked up by blogTO. Regulars were quick to point out the irony: a vegan sandwich is the one option everybody can eat, making its removal puzzling from both an inclusivity and a plain business standpoint. The silver lining? The community response apparently landed and Blackbird says a vegan sandwich may make its way back onto the menu when capacity allows. And don’t forget that Animal Liberation Kitchen is just around the corner, which is 100% vegan!

An organization doing vital work in our city

The Toronto Wildlife Centre (TWC) was founded in 1993 by biologist Nathalie Karvonen after she recognized there was simply nowhere in the GTA for sick, injured, or orphaned wild animals to receive proper care. Since then, TWC has grown into Canada's busiest wildlife centre, admitting more than 120,000 animals across over 270 species, and handling upwards of 40,000 calls annually on their wildlife emergency hotline. The organization operates almost entirely on donations, receiving just 2% of its funding from government sources, and relies on a small team of skilled staff supported by several hundred dedicated volunteers.

We personally had a run-in with their incredible work last Sunday after coming across two orphaned baby squirrels: TWC took them in without hesitation and is currently nursing them back to health before rewilding them. If you want to support their mission, you can donate directly here or pick up something from their merch shop.

On The Horizon:

*(more info will come closer to the dates)

• Springtime Afternoon Tea – Mother's Day

  📅 Saturdays & Sundays: May 2–3, 9–10, and 16–17, 2026
  📍 Avelo Restaurant, 51 St Nicholas St
  🎟️ $80 per person (reservations required via OpenTable)

  A fully vegan Mother's Day afternoon tea featuring a spring menu with savoury items including spinach and sun-dried tomato quiche, wild leek scones, and mushroom tarts, plus sweets including strawberry cake, raspberry tarts, and macarons.

• Vegan Spring Fest

  📅 May 16, 2026

  📍 Ashbridges Bay Estate — 1561 Lake Shore Boulevard East

  A free outdoor vegan festival organized by Animal Liberation Kitchen, featuring plant-based food vendors, conscious brands, live music, and family-friendly activities in a casual picnic-style setting.

• Animal & Vegan Advocacy Summit Canada

  📅 Date: Thursday, May 21 – Sunday, May 24, 2026

  🕒 Time: (multi-day conference; specific daily times not listed on the event page)

  📍 Location: Sheraton Centre Toronto, 123 Queen St W 

  ART’s listing links out to AVA International’s event site and notes it’s a multi-day gathering for advocates, researchers, organizers, and others working on systemic change for farmed animals. 

• Vegan Night Market

  📅 June 18 (with additional dates July 16, Aug 13, Sept 10)

  📍 Balmy Beach

  More details expected closer to the date.

Do you have a business or event that you think should be listed? Email us at [email protected] to submit a request.