Enjoy a day of plant-based food, sanctuary animals, local artists and vendors, live music and a wine and beer garden 

By Midge Raymond 

Visitors to this year’s 3rd annual VegFest at Tikkun Olam Farm Sanctuary (TOFS) in Phoenix will have the opportunity to meet new sanctuary residents as well as new local business owners from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., on Sunday, June 8, 2025, at 460 Hartley Road. Admission, parking and all activities for kids and adults are free. 

TOFS is a 501(c)(3) organization in Phoenix, Oregon, that rescues abused, abandoned, neglected and unwanted farm animals, providing them with a forever home. Among the sanctuary’s new residents are goats Magnolia and Neviah, sheep Hersh and Bubbles and cows Leah and Sir Daniel Moodles. 

“All of our newest residents have come from challenging situations but are now friendly and affectionate,” says Hadassah DeJack-Reynolds, founder of TOFS and co-founder of VegFest. “The cows, Leah and Sir Daniel Moodles, have overcome a lot and have learned to trust humans again. Our new sheep, Hersh and Bubbles, love having visitors, and our new goat sisters, Neviah and Magnolia, always enjoy meeting new people.”

Visitors will have a chance to meet the new sanctuary residents — and longtime residents, including pigs, ducks, chickens and miniature donkeys — during two 40-minute animal tours that begin at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. TOFS is also raising funds at the festival for a new goat and sheep barn via raffle tickets, donation boxes and Venmo QR codes. 

Other attractions include yoga classes for kids and adults, hay rides, a children’s craft corner, a bounce house, face painting, lawn games and more than 40 vendors, including plant-based chefs and bakers, local artists and jewelry makers, animal advocates and local nonprofits. 

Among this year’s vendors are two businesses new to the Rogue Valley.

Anna Blazevich and Rene Acosta opened Ashland’s Hummingbird Heart, a non-alcoholic bottle shop, dry bar and tasting room, on North Main Street in November of last year. “We basically are about all things non-alcoholic,” says Blazevich. “We do tastings for free in the store, and we have functional, non-alcoholic cocktails. And we have other sustainable things — we have an apothecary section and functional chocolate. While we’re very much about the non-alcoholic space, we’re also really about my personal love and belief that plants have an amazing power to heal us.” 

Blazevich is looking forward to sharing her beverages and her knowledge at VegFest. “I’m going to bring two specific plant-based functional beverages — one for unwinding and one for uplifting,” she says. “The tasting part of it is really important because it gives people a chance to learn about it, taste it, get ideas about how you use it or make it into beverages at home.”

Beginning in June, Hummingbird Heart will expand into the space next door to host a lounge bar. “I think we all need things that are good for us,” Blazevich says. “And I have always been obsessed with plants. I have achieved a lot of positive results in my life with the use of plants. I just think that’s such an important part of appreciating Mother Earth.” 

Another new, plant-centric local business is the Phoenix Dripp Café on North Main Street in Phoenix. Owner Valerie Schank was working as an office manager for a physical therapist when she had a “pie in the sky” idea to open a vegan diner. And when she reached out to her friend Mélodie Picard, owner of the Oregon Cheese Cave, “she texted me right back,” Schank says. The café space inside the cheese shop had become available, and, Schank says, “we kind of just fell into place at the right time — the opportunity and the space were there.” 

The Phoenix Dripp Café opened on Valentine’s Day of this year. “I’ve only been open for three months, but it feels like it’s doing very well,” Schank says. “It’s really exciting. People are finding me.”

Everything at the café is made entirely from plants, from grilled cheese and eggless egg-salad sandwiches to baked goods like brownies, muffins and scones. As for what she’ll be offering at VegFest, Schank says, in addition to iced teas and cold brew, “I’m thinking I’ll bring my Bánh Mì. It’s probably by far my most popular sandwich. And I was also thinking that I would bring my Pesto Rebel sandwich, which is your classic pesto-tomato-vegan-mozzarella sandwich—classic summer flavors.” 

Also new to VegFest this year is the Ashland nonprofit Equamore Foundation, which has provided rescue and sanctuary for neglected, abused and abandoned horses and donkeys since 1991.

Executive director Linda Davis was drawn to VegFest because of the event’s past success as well as “the fact that they are vegan.” At the Equamore booth, visitors will learn more about the equine sanctuary as well as how to support its work, from sponsoring a horse or donkey to contributing to the Oregon Hay Bank, a program in which Equamore helps responsible horse owners who are having financial setbacks to keep their horses at home.

Equamore relies entirely on donations and grants, and “one of the big pushes is to get all of our horses fully sponsored,” Davis says. “We have 56 horses and two donkeys, and 17 of them are fully sponsored, 33 are partially sponsored and eight have no sponsors.” The sponsorship program is growing; in January 2020, Davis says, “we had 16 people involved in this program, and now we have 82.”

“I get a phone call or an email almost daily from somebody trying to find another home for a horse,” Davis says, “because they were irresponsible, they didn’t plan ahead, they didn’t make a lifetime commitment to the animal. And we cannot take them all.” Davis says that 35% of Equamore’s horses and donkeys come through law enforcement. “We’ve provided lifetime sanctuary for about 170 horses to date. We don’t adopt (out) our horses. We don’t foster them. When they make it through the gates at Equamore, they live here for their lifetimes.”

Other nonprofits at VegFest include Jackson County SART, Friends of the Animals (FOTAS) and Rogue Valley Street Dogs. Live music will play throughout the day, with The Torpedoes from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and The Bouray from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., and a wine and beer garden will be hosted by Sound & Vision Wine Co. and Gold Rush Brewing.

Ashland resident Midge Raymond is a TOFS volunteer and is co-founder of Ashland Creek Press, which will be a VegFest vendor. She writes the Catty Corner column for Ashland.news and is author of the novels “Floreana” and “My Last Continent” and co-author of “Devils Island.”