WORCESTER — VegFest is planned this weekend at the largest venue since its inception five years ago, with organizers planning for more than 100 exhibitors and thousands of visitors.

Organizers are psyched for the largest vegetarian and vegan food festival in the area on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the DCU Center downtown.

The free event boasts loads of free food samples and hosts a range of vendors, exhibitors and speakers, including from numerous animal rights organizations and animal sanctuaries, vegan bakers and food purveyors. There will also be ethical products to sample and for sale including cruelty-free jewelry, makeup and organic produce. And, this year, organizers say they have expanded the family and kid area with bouncy house.

The crowd has grown steadily larger each year, said Brie M. Goldberg, one of VegFest's organizers and a member of VegWorcester, the organization behind VegFest. The all-volunteer group is expecting over 6,000 attendees, she said.

"I think it has grown so much nationally," Ms. Goldberg said. "Vegetarianism is on the rise and people are more aware of what they are eating. Ten years ago, if you mentioned 'vegan,' half of America would not know what you were talking about. That is not true now. Across the board, there is more awareness."

Last year's event was held at the Worcester Airport and filled the terminal with wall-to-wall attendees.

"Our greatest complaint was people couldn't maneuver through the crowd," she said. "But the DCU is huge. Its notoriety also helped bring in more exhibitors from around New England."

Vegan champion bodybuilder Robert A. Cheeke is coming in from the West Coast to speak at the event.

The 34-year-old said he has visited nearly every veg festival in the United States and Canada, but this is his first visit to Worcester's festival.

"I'm learning all the pronunciations," he said. "My friends who go to college in Boston told me it (Worcester) is like 'rooster,' and there is no 'h' sound in it. Other than that, I don't know much about it, other than it is a veg-friendly city."

Years ago, he said vegan bodybuilding was an oxymoron.

"I was a skinny kid who grew up on a farm and was barely 100 pounds," he said. "I gained 75 muscle-pounds and became a champion bodybuilder. The Internet was still fairly new and there wasn't a lot of people doing it — just some of the early pioneers of the vegan-athlete movement."

Now, he advocates a plant-based diet that he says is better for overall health and vital organs including the heart, kidneys and liver.

"I was a vegan kid who was really into athletics and I wanted to show I could get bigger and stronger on a vegan diet," he said. "And, I did get bigger and stronger and I was doing it in a compassionate way. I showed it could be done and it led to a lot of neat opportunities."

Also speaking at the event is Erica T. Meier, executive director of Compassion Over Killing — a national nonprofit animal advocacy group based in Washington D.C.

Ms. Meier's work is at the forefront of undercover investigations into factory farming, Ms. Goldberg said.

Ms. Meier said she reached out to Massachusetts legislators including those in Worcester County to participate in the U.S. VegWeek annual campaign and "go veg" for a week. The seven-day event kicks off on April 21, Meatless Monday – the day before Earth Day.

"I'm asking them to take the pledge and empower other people as well," Ms. Meier's said. "We hope they will take the leap and go vegetarian or vegan as a result."

The Clark University graduate said she is excited about speaking at VegFest this year.

"One of the top reasons we do this is for the animals," she said. "They are denied adequate legal protection and raised and killed in tremendous numbers — 9 billion every year in the United States including cows, chickens, turkeys and pigs. And, that does not include aquatic animals."

When many people discover what is going on inside factory farms, she said, they no longer want to support it.

"It would lead to criminal prosecution if the same thing was inflicted on dogs and cats living in our homes," she said. "The best way to send the message that these abuses are not acceptable is to choose vegetarian."

For more information, visit www.worcestervegfest.com.

Contact Paula Owen at powen@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @PaulaOwenTG.