Features Aug 13, 2014 at 4:00 am

A Very Special Edition of Potiquette

Comments

1
OK as a former volunteer at Hempfest, don't be ragging on some guy because he's trying to mix activism with a family life, and can't be bothered to avoid being in the background of some hipster's picture. Seriously, that guy was so obviously not photo-bombing that it is obvious the writer was reaching.

On the other hand, the part about sunscreen is bang-on! Here are a few other tips:

Get a good night's sleep the night before, and that includes nights in the middle. Seriously, save the all-nighter for the last day. There is just too much good shit to miss.

Stay hydrated! Seriously kids, we're tired of having to baby-sit a tent full of fools who should have drunk the bottle of water they used for their bongs.

Have fun, but take advantage of at least a few opportunities you have to learn. Not all stage time is music, listen to as many speakers as you can work into your schedule, and if you are polite and take the time to wait around the back-stage exits, you might get to meet some of the speakers.

VOLUNTEER! At the very least, you get a meal and a very cool T-shirt. You meet some really cool people! Be able to actually back-up your beliefs by having contributed in a very tangible way to the cause. Get opportunities to not only see behind the scenes, and meet some of the people on the stages, but to interact with some of the displays without the crowds and noise. Seriously, just being able to walk through and experience Ken Kesey's old Magical School Bus without any crowd, haste, or noise was priceless!

Bathe and use a deodorant of some kind, but lay off the patchouli oil instead of a shower, the Axe body spray, and other perfumes. It's gonna be hot ans sweaty. Keep it clean, and leave the chemicals at home!

Be nice to the staff and listen to us. Everyone you see in a staff shirt is an unpaid volunteer. We aren't there to be the heavy. We are trying to be as mellow and laid back as we can be, and still keep the protestival going. Seattle does not have anything that packs as many people into as small of an area as Hempfest, that is not commercial, and does not have many times the police and paid-security people as Hempfest. Be part of the solution, not the problem.

Or keep it simple: Be excellent with each other!
2
Does anyone else think that the dude fishing for nugs looks like RDJ? I mean, I know he's done his fair share, & a few other people's, but if he's going to put in a cameo at HF, shouldn't he be required to wear the Iron Man costume to freak out the stoners?
3
Remember it's Hempfest, not Methfest, Cokefest, or Heroinfest or any general drugfest. Tweakers stay home.
4
I've never been but I really want to go for the people watching.
5
DON'T NOT BE PSYCHIC WHILE PEOPLE ARE TAKING PICTURES AND DON'T NOT BE MY TYPE OF FASHION is what this boils down to, with a single bit of decent advice (sunscreen).

Kindly get the hell over yourself and deal with the fact that people are going to have fun with or without your stupid "etiquette" rules.
6
you're so wrong -- it's the stroller photobomb that makes that photo
7
I haven't been for a few years, but does anyone else feel like in 2010-2012 it was more like the gathering of the juggalos than anything else?
8
I lived a few blocks from this and stopped going after 2007 when it became Brofest. The misogyny and homophobia is thicker than the pot smoke.

And if pot is only legal for those 21 and older, why are half these pics of kids??? Can you bring babies and teens to a beerfest?
9
No 7, you're right.
10
Also try not trashing the neighborhood all around the park for a change. I know you guys are generally pretty good about cleaning up the park itself, but for some reason that goes right out the window the moment you cross Elliott.

Most everyone who lives and/or works here hates you with the fire of a thousand suns, and it's not because we don't like pot.
11
And pull your pants up. Your underwear isn't as cool as you think it is.
12
Hope the Stranger can raise their own standards of journalism as this post had NOTHING helpful to offer other than judgement and bad vibes. Slowly losing me as a reader with this kind of garbage.
13
Seattle in general: Lots of people smoking weed. Hempfest: Lots of stupid people smoking weed. Let's see... both sides divisible by weed... hmm.. Both sides divisible by weed... carry the two... hold on a minu.. Oh. Hold on. Yeah. Hempfest = Lots of stupid people. Very, very stupid people.
14
no 13, sure there's some dumb people, but there's also some very educated and intelligent people. the fact that you like to group everyone up in this massive event just goes to show your own ignorance.

perhaps you should shore up your own IQ before having massive blanket statements on a event with more than +300,000 people.
15
Parental Stoner here. Don't take your pictures with me in them then. You are not a special or unique snowflake childless one.
16
@14 Of course there are some truly brilliant and extremely knowledgeable people at Hempfest, unfortunately, pot tends to inhibit the display of such as ingestion increases.

Further, that is ignoring the very real effects of "contact stupid".
17
All I know is I left Seattle in 2001 to move to Houston. Now I am sitting here with tears in my eyes knowing what I am missing. And missed!
18
I'm pretty sure DO: get out of the way of wheelchairs is a pretty good one. Its easier for you to go around us than it is for us to maneuver around you.
Also if a guy pushing a girl in a wheelchair is even faster than you, you might wanna think about picking up your pace just a teeny bit.

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