The Land of Kush and Black Veg Society of Maryland Present First Keep It Fresh Children's Vegfest and Book Fair in Baltimore

June is National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month and school is out!

The Black Veg Society of Maryland (BVSMD) is pleased to announce its partnership with Changing Lives MD, The African Griot Book Fair and Safety City at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore in the inaugural Keep It Fresh Fest presented by MECU Neighborhood Event Grants.

History of Keep It Fresh
Keep It Fresh initiated as a campaign for youth, by youth. As a Green For All fellow, Denver native, eco-hiphop artist and vegan chef Dr. Ietef "Dj Cavem" Vita decided to ask for an official day as a way of pushing his clean air, clean water, and clean food initiative and use it as a way to highlight people around the world who use food as medicine.

"I grew up in the five points, breathing in polluted air from local factories. Fresh water has always been an issue, and the freshest thing in my neighborhood was a lemon in a liquor store. I'm really excited that other cities like Baltimore are down with the movement, and my goal is to make this a national day." - Dr. Ietef Vita, a.k.a. DJ Cavem

Keep It Fresh Day (June 14) has been in motion since 2011. In 2014, it was declared official by mayoral proclamation in Denver, CO. In 2017, Keep It Fresh Day was recognized by the Mayor of Baltimore when over 200 bags of produce was distributed in Champion Juicer sponsored bags at The Land of Kush, an award winning vegan soul food restaurant. A Champion Juicer was gifted to the winning plant-based picture or music video on social media. Hip Hop artist Poet Deep was selected as the winner for producing a music video on veganism.

Keep It Fresh Fest (June 15) is a spin-off of Keep It Fresh Day. The free festival will highlight plant-based culinary arts, organic gardening, music and environmental actions in conjunction with The African Griot Book Fair whose desire is to impress the importance of reading, literacy and healthy lifestyle alternatives and choices to families with children.

Keep It Fresh Fest will feature:

1. Workshops and speakers on live, vegan whole foods, organic gardening, and food as medicine
2. African Griot Children's Books
3. B-boys and B-girls
4. Yogis
5. Environmental awareness

Featured guests include:

Public Enemy's own, Professor Griff (speech and book signing)
Culture Queen (read along, book signing and performance)
So Freakin' Vegan (cooking demo and performance)
Maria Broom (The Village Bully)
Crystal Forman (cooking demo)
Baba C and Janis Curtis (African Griot Host)
John Carrington (Magician)
Margaret Ann Locklear (The Greenbook reading)
Abu the Flutemaker
Wombworks (youth performers)
DJ Tee Brown and Son (Live DJ Entertainment)

Special invited guest, Baltimore's own, Dwight Watkins. Author of, the newly released book, We Speak For Ourselves, The Cook Up and The Beast Side.

If you have a cruelty-free organization that's interested in sponsoring or participating, please register at buytickets.at/bvsmd. No animal products or by-products will be offered or sold at this event. Email all questions to BlackVegofMD@gmail.com.

Sponsors: MECU Neighborhood Event Grants, The Land of Kush, Black Veg Society of Maryland (BVSMD), Changing Lives MD, A Well-Fed World, VegFund, American Legion, Awesome Foundation