Veggie Fest 2024 celebrates Earth Day in Taipei with music, art, food

2024 年素食節在台北以音樂、藝術和美食慶祝世界地球日

Over 20 acts across 3 stages bring diverse music to environment focused festival


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Earth Day was marked with music, art, and vegetarian food in the Taipei hills on Sunday (April 20) with the fifth annual edition of Veggie Fest.

About 300 people turned out for the day-long festival on Tiger Mountain — featuring more than 20 music acts across three stages. Local and international food and drink vendors served guests who brought their own cups and utensils in line with the festival’s environmental focus.

Artist Patty Hogan worked on organizing the festival, designing the poster and space, and said the festival is for everyone, not just vegetarians. “It's just a great event every year to take a day to cut back on eating animals and making trash.”

“It's difficult for people to grasp why it's ‘veggie’ or why that is important, but taking a day or a meal as often as you can to consciously not eat meat can help reduce our carbon footprint and change factory farming,” she said.

The festival’s mountain venue, with a retired temple as a stage and different forested areas to listen to music, is also a big draw for attendees. “I love going to Tiger Mountain, it's gorgeous up there, in the spring the weather is so nice,” Hogan said.

Many of the musicians playing at the festival said they were attracted by the environmental focus. Musical artist Moshe Foster played two sets with different acts and said using his own utensils when out and about, cycling, and using public transport is a big part of his commitment to a sustainable life.

Attendees said the music was diverse: “just like our audience.” Foreign residents partied alongside locals, and ages ran the gamut from newborns on up.

One of the music offerings was Konkonba, a nine-piece international band that played a set of traditional West African music in the late afternoon. Band members Tsai Yun-huan (蔡永煥) and Sekita Rui (関田琉衣) told Taiwan News that the band learned to play from Guinean masters including Mamady Keita and Bolokada Conde.

Sekita said some of the band are siblings, and their uncle brought them together after their father passed away when they were kids. Tsai said their uncle created the band to give them a sense of unity and purpose, which has continued until today.

Tsai said that the band has played Veggie Fest every year since it began, and their uncle who started it all came with them to see the show this year too.

Original music from Taiwan indie bands, Talking Heads covers, 80s pop hits rendered in shades of punk, DJ sets, and acoustic folk were among some of the other music options to choose from. A short and sharp downpour sent guests headed for the cover of the temple stage for a time, though the outdoor stage was quickly back up and running.

Christian Ekleberry also helped to organize the event, and said that the many foreign residents who came are “incredibly invested in the country, and are always seeking new ways to contribute to their local community.”

“This festival and other artistic scenes within Taiwan could not exist without continued local support; many local Taiwanese are active participants in both foreign and Taiwanese-led creative circles,” Ekleberry said.

“This year, the festival was able to introduce more Taiwanese artists into the line-up and we expect that to expand even further next year.”