I find the noise, trash, and traffic congestion from the downtown stores to be an annoyance.

Seriously, have you ever tried to find parking or drive there? It's a nightmare.

I would miss the silliness if it ever had to move further from downtown. I love the little groups of glassy-eyed suburban teens, often quite shirtless, wandering around like they've never seen buildings that tall so close up.

Whats the point of having a hempfest when MJ is legal and all the organizers were against the law in the first place? What are they going to do, protest the fact that its legal thanks to the checks and balances that were inserted into the law?

Also, the DSA sent a letter to the city asking to reduce the number of Sounders and Seahawks matches to one per year. (Strangely enough, no request was made with regard to Mariners games.)

Fuck hempfest, maybe they'd like it better if I-502 failed. Waste of space and it's way too crowded. unlikely to attend.

Fuck me, the day has come when I agree with Kinison.

And Hempfest does leave an epic mess in its wake. Maybe if they had more volunteers to clean up while the event's going on? It takes them days after it's over to finish, and the park vegetation looks like shit for weeks afterwards.

We really need to make it easier to use the Center. I have not gone to hempfest for years because it is always a crowded congested mess. Hempfest at Seattle Center would be nice.

@3 What is the point of the Bite of Seattle if food is legal? Hemfest is more of a festival at this point then a political rally.

Maybe the SCC should add an amendment to the law that states IF a festival is paying for labor it must use union labor at Seattle Center, but that if it is all-volunteer labor then that requirement is exempted. Seattle Center is certainly a *much* better venue for HF considering how much it has grown in 20 years.

I live within 1/2 mile and really don't care if they have hemp fest there or not. I agree that Seattle Center would be much nicer though.

If you want to deny Hempfest because of garbage and noise, then you need to get rid of the stadiums too.

@7,

Given that Hempfest has a massive problem cleaning up after itself, why should it be easier to use the Center? The Center's employees don't work for free.

Hmm, @10 ... what if we required that all the garbage be dumped on Howard Stern's lawn?

Win win.

"noise, trash and traffic congestion resulting from an event of this size—over three days—"

Sounds like the Bite of Seattle. Or Folklife. Or SeaFair.

At the same time, I was driving a bus during last year's hempfest, and that year's attendees were the biggest group of rude, inconsiderate assholes I've ever had the displeasure to transport. I wish it weren't so - but I had more problems that weekend than the entire year before.

@11 That's fair. Though not an insurmountable problem.

I don't smoke dope but I like Hempfest because it reminds me of why it's called dope.

WHY DONT YOU PEOPLE INSTEAD OF BITCHING AND WINNING CLEAN THE STREETS OF SEATTLE UP.Any day of the year you can drive to seattle and there is garbage on the ground.There are many festivals in Seattle and i bet my life on it the streets are not clean but i am pretty sure you have attended a festival we have no voilence but other festivals people shoot each other funny you keep them going.Stop wasting your time on picking on hemp fest and get off your but help the homeless people you throw out in the cold and starve.I feed the homeless people at my booth do you feed them probebly not most garbage in seattle is posections of the homeless people help them with new blankets,cloths new stuff , help them with a place to live, eat,throw there garbage away instead of conplain help people.Stop acting better the others i donot smoke pot but i have a booth there and we all feed your homeless when we come to town, support your restrant,storesAnd Hotels generate a lot of money to your fairy system so saying you dont get money from us is a bunch of bull.