Oregon NORML returns for the 17th Annual Seattle Hempfest

Join us on August 16th & 17th at Myrtle Edwards Park for the Seattle Hempfest. We will be set up in the Hemposium Area - the first place you get to when you enter the park from the south Main Entrance.

You can also click here and print off this Hempfest Map, which also shows the locations of the Main Stage and the National NORML booth and the Urb Age Designs booth.

Get your own copy of the Busted DVD from FlexYourRights.org

We will be presenting our famous Multimedia Booth again this year. We show educational videos to the Hempfest attendees as they are entering and leaving the event, most notably, the BUSTED video by the Flex Your Rights campaign. This video always draws a crowd of interested citizens as it explains how to deal with police officers in various encounters. We show the BUSTED video every three hours, at 10, 1, 4, and 7.

Executive Director Madeline Martinez speaks Sat. 12:45pm Main Stage Sat. 5:45pm Seeley Stage Sun. 6:45pm McWilliams Stage

We're also very proud to have our Oregon NORML Executive Officers, Executive Director Madeline Martinez (also member of the National NORML Board of Directors) and Associate Director Russ Belville (also host of NORML's Daily Audio Stash), as featured speakers SEVEN TIMES at the Hempfest event. You'll also get to meet some of Oregon NORML's Board and Core Volunteer staff at our booth, which has been revamped to provide even more of the educational experience we've always provided. We've got free handouts on your constitutional rights, marijuana laws, public opinions polls, medical marijuana, drug war statistics, and more! And Oregonians can pick up the latest information on the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, including petitions!

Associate Director "Radical" Russ Belville speaks Sat. 1:50pm Seeley Stage Sat. 5:40pm McWilliams Stage Sun. 12:45pm Main Stage Sun. 1:30pm Hemposium Moderator for "Marijuana and the Media"

You can find us on this handy Google map - our booth is in the first section of booths you'll see when you first enter Myrtle Edwards Park from the south. Click the larger map and you can click for "Directions" and find your way to our booth from almost anywhere in the world... even Brisbane, Australia (though there is that darn 7,906 miles of kayaking across the Pacific and it would take you 42 days.)

If you haven't been to Seattle Hempfest, you really need to go. There is nothing to compare with being surrounded by tens of thousands of like-minded individuals who are all supportive of our goal to end adult hemp & cannabis prohibition. The hospitality of the people at Hempfest is unparalleled, and remember, you're in a city that voted to make enforcement of marijuana laws the city's lowest police priority. That doesn't mean smoke out in the open where police can see you, but let's just say that the air around Puget Sound this time of year can be pungent.

Oregon NORML Represents at
the 16th Annual Seattle Hempfest

Every year on the third weekend of August, Washington NORML pulls off the greatest hemp and cannabis "protestival" in the world - the Seattle Hempfest. Founded in 1991, the festival now draws up to 200,000 people, hundreds of vendors and non-profits, and dozens of great bands.

The weekend is dedicated to peaceful protest against the cruel prohibition of nature's most helpful plant: cannabis. The leaders and experts in drug policy reform, medical marijuana, industrial hemp, consumer cannabis, and prohibition politics from around the world gather to network and educate. The thousands of attendees come to purchase great glass, hemp clothing, art, and excellent food, while listening to music of all genres and speakers on various cannabis topics.

The entire festival takes place at the Myrtle Edwards Park on the waterfront in Downtown Seattle, so it makes a strong statement to the citizens and tourists who might otherwise not consider cannabis issues. The event is family-friendly, well-patroled and safe. It is all-volunteer and exists solely through donations, and the park is cleaner after Hempfest than it is before Hempfest.

Oregon NORML represents at Hempfest and in 2007 we were able to help sponsor the event and man our own booth. Madeline and Russ spoke onstage to huge crowds - we'll have the footage on our Labor Day Weekend episode of Oregon NORML Presents.

Our booth was at the South Entrance. We played the Busted video as people entered and exited the park, gathering crowds of up to 20 people learning how best to deal with common police encounters.

National NORML Founder Keith Stroup visited the booth and when he saw the dozens of young people learning about the Bill of Rights, he remarked, "This is a very important thing you're doing here." Hempfest organizers were also very pleased that our message was reaching Hempfest attendees just as they were leaving the event.

Pictures are now online in our Gallery. Well, not ALL the pictures. Let's just say that the Oregon NORML Qbit™ was a big "hit" among all the VIPs in attendance...