Durham Veg History
Durham Veg was founded in 1996 under the name "Durham Lakeside Vegetarians". This name was chosen because, at the time, there was another vegetarian group in the Uxbridge area. Since the majority of interested individuals lived in the towns along the lakefront, we decided on the name "Durham Lakeside Vegetarians" or DLV.
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Durham Veg was the brainchild of Sally Grande, who lived in Whitby, and Anne Dozell, who lived in Pickering, at the time. Momentum was building between 1998 and 2009 when DLV decided to attempt a Durham Vegetarian Festival as a prelude to the giant Harbourfront Vegetarian Festival held by TVA. We expected a few hundred people but over 5,000 people showed up... in the rain! The Heydenshore Pavilion was packed and the parking lot overflowed onto the road. Two of the four organizers have moved away from Durham in pursuit of their career goals and the other two have since retired so we have not attempted another Durham Festival ...yet.
Since those days, DurhamVeg has expanded to Facebook and Twitter and we have multiple events each month. Memorable photos of monthly events are displayed in our gallery (see the Gallery tab above). Below are the archives of DurhamVeg's early years and images of special people and restaurants which are no longer with us.
Since those days, DurhamVeg has expanded to Facebook and Twitter and we have multiple events each month. Memorable photos of monthly events are displayed in our gallery (see the Gallery tab above). Below are the archives of DurhamVeg's early years and images of special people and restaurants which are no longer with us.
Sadly, Anne passed away at Markham Stouffville Hospital on June 7, 2012 at the age of 71. In honour of her contributions to founding DurhamVeg, we take time to remember Anne. She was perhaps best know for her energy and humour. Her column in TVA's Lifelines newsletter, called "Ask Letty" (short for lettuce), dealt with the problems typical encountered by new vegetarians and vegans. She relentlessly plastered posters and distributed flyers all over Durham. Her enthusiasm cannot be replaced.
For more on Anne, see TVA's memorial. ![]() Dan Rambharose, another long time friend
of DurhamVeg, attended our monthly dinners
even though he lived in Toronto and was almost
always travelling. Dan had a reputation for having visited the most remote locations on the planet, and testing their vegan foods! Sadly, Dan passed
away suddenly in 2013. He will be missed by many.
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