Initiative 75’s effect evident as police smile on the crowd;

Seattle police took City voters seriously and showed the cannabis friendly face of the northwestern port city this summer. The annual HempFest gathering at Myrtle Edwards Park on the third weekend in August is both educational and political in scope, and has a healthy dose of entertainment thrown in for good measure.

Two days of music, politics and cannabis -- zero arrests

“Don’t just burn it, learn it!” HempFest organizers declared this the Year of Education, and educational panel discussions ran non-stop in the Hemposium tent near the hemp resources display.

Hemp education display near hemposium stage.

Speakers included Mikki Norris, Chris Conrad, Jack Herer, Debby Goldsbury, Allen St. Pierre, Rob Kampia, Roger Goodman, Valerie and Mike Corral, Dominic Holden, Bryan Epis, Jack Cole, Philippe Lucas, Steph Sherer, Jeffrey Steinborn, Keith Stroup, Don Wirtshafter, Sanho Tree, Scarlett Swerdlow and other luminaries of cannabis reform.

Four stages carried a continuous range of music ranging from the reggae-rock Herbivores and Jah Levi to thrash bands and the psychedelic licks of Leon Hendrix. Zaphara’s Belly Dancers, Fishbone, Keaton Simons, Shiftman Shift, Scott Law Band, and dozens more.

The McWilliams Memorial Stage, dedicated to the late LA activist Peter McWilliams, was rededicated to include San Diego patient and activist Steve McWilliams, who took his own life in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Raich ruling.

The decidedly political aspect of the event was energizing, and on both days the famous Seattle fog rolled over the Hempfest at 4:20, as the crowd chanted, “What do we want? Equal rights. When do we want them? Now.”

What do we want? Equal rights. When do we want them? Now.