Big tent. Friendly critters. Funny emcee. Yummy food. Cool music. No, it wasn't the circus, it was the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary's annual ThanksLiving.

Over 250 people came for this sold out event Sunday to visit with rescued farm animals and enjoy a fabulous sit-down all-vegan meal. ThanksLiving rather than Thanksgiving is a celebration of turkeys and other farmed animals during a season traditionally centered on meals of dead animals. This is the third year I have volunteered for this event, and here's my "take" on it:

The weather report promised a 100 percent chance of precipitation, but we were lucky. The cold schvitz of the morning gave way to light banks of clouds by the afternoon. The sanctuary is nestled between two Catskill mountains, which were resplendent in fall foliage. A giant heated tent was set up in the goat pasture, with elegant light fixtures, dozens of white-clothed tables, and a stage.

Living in New York City, I often take the ease of being a vegan for granted; the sheer multitude of options is definitely the impetus for my obliviousness. Every so often, a tour, a road trip or vacation will act like a bucket of water and splash me back to reality.

It's in those rare moments when I do come across some grub, that I truly appreciate vegan food in all its glory. Even a short trip can lead you spiraling towards a vegan dead zone if you're not careful.

So, while on a quick jaunt to Nyack, NY recently, I was pleasantly surprised to find not only an option, but a deliciously viable vegan option to boot!

**Edit: Two late additions for Tuesday, June 16**

Be alerted of these and other events we think you'll care about by subscribing to our calendar.

Events are free unless otherwise noted.

Now until June 14

Watch new documentary HOME free on YouTube. More info in our recent blog post.

Saturday, June 13

National Pigeon Day: Praise the pigeon at Central Park and all over the country. Our very own Patrick Kwan will be speaking.
12-4pm
Central Park, Pilgrim Hill

Get friendly with a neeeeighbor at A Horse of Course!, a walk and discussion with Kathy Stevens at Catskill Animal Sanctuary.
1-4pm
$15, or $5 for members. Register in advance by calling Julie at (845) 336-8447.

Woodstock FAS hosts its family-friendly Jamboree. Games, face-painting, animals, and food by Isa Moskowitz. That's right--another chance to dose on Isa before she heads back to Oregon.
11am-5pm
$10. Register in advance at the website.

Tuesday, June 15

Protest against the netting and gassing to death of at least 2,000 NYC geese
12-2pm
Port Authority Headquarters, 225 Park Ave. South

Ingrid Newkirk's book-signing for The PETA Practical Guide to Animals Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble
7pm
Borders, Columbus Circle

Thursday, June 18

Mercy for Animals celebrates the opening of its New York office with vegan appetizers and drinks at MooShoes. And wait, it gets better than vegan food and booze: MooShoes will be donating 10% of that day's in-store and online sales to MFA, so you finally have a scale-tipping reason to get that pair of Simples.
6:30-9:30pm
MooShoes, 78 Orchard St.

Friday, June 19

Join Mary and Peter Max for the kick-off party for the production of Standardized Testing. The film "follows PATH founder Kelly Overton...as he attempts to return his diplomas and get his tuition refunded in an effort to bring attention to the dangerous and wasteful biomedical research being done at the universities." Food will be provided by 4 Course Vegan, BabyCakes NYC, Blackwell's Organic Gelato, Candle Cafe, Frey Vineyards, The Power of Food, Tuthilltown Spirits, Vegan Treats Bakery, and others.
6:30-8:30pm
The Max Studio
37 W. 65th St., 7th floor
$100 and up. Purchase tickets here.

If you've never met a farm animal and you care about critters ... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Vegans listen up: it's time to make friends with the 'friends' you don't eat by visiting a sanctuary. It'll change your life, I guarantee it. Here's how: we've got TWO farm animal sanctuaries within two-plus hours of our fair city. So log off of Facebook and head for the Catskills to 'friend' rescued pigs, goats, chickens, turkeys, sheep, cows and others. Get checked out by curious turkeys and goats or give a pig a belly rub. Bring a meat-eating pal for extra credit (especially if s/he has a car). And for you car-less New Yorkers, fugeddaboutit: the Woodstock sanctuary is accessible by bus from Port Authority, so there's really no excuse.

Both the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary and the Catskill Animal Sanctuary are open on weekends for visits. Tour the farm, meet the critters and hear their rescue stories. You'll be surprised how many of the animals came from NYC live-kill markets (especially goats and birds). It makes a wonderful day trip to meet the animals, hang out, maybe even volunteer a few hours (there's always barns and coops to clean or pig meals to prepare). But if you need an event to draw you there, the next two weekends are guaranteed good-times - just for you:

Find these and more events in our calendar.

Monday, 6/1

Vegan Brunch release party: Celebrate the release of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's latest and brunchiest cookbook with vegan sausage and pink grapefruit mimosas made by the lovely lady herself. Free.
MooShoes, 7 p.m.
78 Orchard St., between Grand and Broome streets

Two vegan cookbooks released today: The Vegan Table, by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, author of The Joy of Vegan Baking, and The Vegan Scoop, by Wheeler Del Toro of Wheeler's Black Label Vegan Ice Cream

Tuesday, 6/2

Brooklyn Botanic Garden free admission Tuesdays (recurring event)

Wednesday, 6/3

The New York City Bar offers a free program on puppy mills and puppy mill legislation in New York. Register before hopping over. Free.
6-9 p.m., New York City Bar
42 W. 44th St., between 5th and 6th avenues

The second episode of The Goode Family airs at 9 p.m. on ABC. I didn't find the first episode to be overwhelmingly hilarious, but as a friend of mine said, "Considering this is a Mike Judge cartoon, it will get better if it manages to survive, because it will stop laying on the obvious. King of the Hill, for example, was never meant to be a laughing-out-loud affair, and it eventually managed to amusingly reconcile certain aspects of that particular culture war."

Thursday, 6/4

Edible landscaping workshop at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Learn to grow things in your tiny Brooklyn apartment that you can eat! Free. Register in advance.
6-8 p.m., Brooklyn Botanic Garden
1000 Washington Ave.

Food, Inc. premiers in NYC at the Museum of the Moving Image
35th Avenue at 36th Street, Astoria

Saturday, 6/6

Rally for Worldwide Day of Protest Against Horse-Drawn Carriages at Columbus Circle with Friends of Animals, the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, HEART and mayoral candidate and current council member Tony Avella.
12 p.m., Columbus Circle

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary's Spring benefit dinner for the NY Vegetarian Expo. $65.
5:30 p.m., The Women's Club of Albany
725 Madison Ave., Albany, NY

Catskill Animal Sanctuary's Shindig 2009 features six speakers, including Brian Shapiro of the Ulster County SPCA and Amie Hamlin of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food. $10.
12-6 p.m., Catskill Animal Sanctuary
316 Old Stage Rd., Saugerties, NY

The Humane Society of the United States and New York State Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal revealed today that some of the largest retailers in New York--including Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue--have been selling unlabeled fur-trimmed garments in violation of state law.

HSUS investigators and Assemblymember Rosenthal visited stores in New York City with undercover cameras last month to determine whether retailers are in compliance with the 2007 law Rosenthal authored.

The law requires that all apparel with real or fake fur be labeled as real or fake, so that shoppers can have access to important product information. The investigation showed that Bloomingdale's was selling unlabeled "Parajumpers" and "Steve by Searle" brand jackets trimmed with animal fur, and that Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue were both selling "Moncler" brand jackets trimmed with unlabeled animal fur.

"I passed this law to ensure that consumers in New York could make informed decisions about the type of clothing they are buying," said Rosenthal. "Many people prefer not to wear animal fur, and they should be able to tell at a glance whether an article of clothing is made with fur or not. Retailers have had more than a year to comply with this law, and it is appalling that so many have disregarded it," she said.

Join SuperVegan in Fort Greene, Brooklyn for our Election Night Party as we keep a watchful eye on the results while downing discounted drink specials like Vegan White Russians, Chocolate Hawaiians, and Joe The Plumber Cocktails and munching on yummy vegan grub at Red Bamboo Brooklyn on Tue, November 4th from 8pm on.

If you are on Facebook, RSVP here.

To accommodate more peeps and after lessons learned from our awesome debate watch party, Red Bamboo Brooklyn's first floor will serve dinner from 8pm through midnight and the second floor and patio will be cleared of tables for folks to drink and hang out until the wee hours. We'll also have DJs on the second floor throughout the night!!!

While most eyes around the world are on the Obama vs. Palin race, animal advocates also have the following candidate races and ballot measures to look out for:

• New York State animal protection leaders like Frank Padavan, Liz Krueger, Deborah Glick, and Linda Rosenthal.
• California - YES on Prop 2 to stop cruelty to farm animals
• Massachusetts - YES on Question 3 to phase out dog racing
• Arizona - NO on Prop 105 which would prevent future animal protection initiatives
• Oklahoma - NO on State Question 742 which would affect wildlife protection measures
• Oregon - NO on Measure 64 which would harm nonprofits like the Oregon Humane Society
  

And finally, if you think Sarah Palin is scary, wait until you learn about Michigan's Rep. Joe Knollenberg. To learn more visit the Humane Society Legislative Fund folks.

New York City's League of Humane Voters is animal rights advocates' version of the DC Comics superhero alliance, the Justice Leauge. Not only are they both a group of well intentioned individuals but they both use their powers to fight injustice and protect those that may not have a voice. It's honest altruism without the bright costumes and capes.

But, far-reaching comic-book-nerd parallels aside, LOHV do great work and their campaigns are effective. Since their inception, they have vigorously campaigned to elect compassionate candidates to local public office and have successfully lobbied for humane legislation for the City of New York.

Today, LOHV-NY released their first ever New York State Legislature Humane Scorecard, "track[ing] lawmakers' votes for and against legislation to protect animals during the 2007-2008 legislative session." (Here's a direct link to the PDF)

Think of it as your vegan superhero voter decoder ring.

Have you registered for Farm Sanctuary's Walk for Farm Animals yet? The family-friendly event is just a couple of weeks away (Sunday, September 28th)-- barely enough time to guilt your meaty friends and coworkers into pledging their last penny in support. Hurry and get thee to the online registry and pay the $15 advanced registration fee (verses the $20 same day fee) which guarantees you a bitchin' commemorative t-shirt and first grabs at the impressive smorgasbord of donated food.

Entertainment and speakers include Princess Superstar, vegan iron man Brendan Brazier, Senator Liz Kreuger, Farm Sanctuary Executive Director Jeff Lydon, Afrobeat band Shokazoba, and indie songstress Bess Rogers.

Check out the details for this and other events on our NYC Vegan Events Calendar.

Tomorrow evening, animal advocates Jasmin Singer (Farm Sanctuary) and Marisa Miller Wolfson (Kind Green Planet), the duo who bought us Veganism 101, will lead a workshop called Where the Women's, Gay, and Animal Liberation Movements Intersect at The New School. I'll be on the panel pushing my queer vegan anthology book project and learning from the other way more qualified speakers. Hope to see you.

(See our NYC Vegan Events Calendar for details on this event and more.)