You may have heard about the speakers, the massive smoke outs and other highlights of 2013′s Seattle Hempfests, but did you know there were daily fashion shows in the Hemposium Tent?

I co-produced the show, Fashion with a Passion for Freedom, with Hemposium Manager Pam Haley, featuring garments from established hemp clothing companies across the country and exciting pieces made by fresh design students at Seattle-based NY Fashion Academy.

Local fashion design students utilized bolts of hemp fabrics to create savvy garments for this first legal hemp fashion show in post I-502 Washington State. All participating clothing companies were founded in the 1990s and the well-constructed garments on the runway reflected the accrued experience in workmanship and clothing design.

The companies featured at the fashion show this year were excellent examples of eco-friendly organizations dedicated to environmental preservation with style.

Earth Creations

Earth Creations,based in Bessemer, Alabama, creates casual and fashionable seasonal styles in hemp and organic cotton jersey. Dyed with locally-sourced natural clays, these garments are designed for mixing and matching for a variety of up-to-date looks.

Earth Creations’ runway offerings included a ruffled Lucca shrug in taupe, paired with a flounced Sydney dress and flared Arabesque skirt worn as a strapless dress.

A 3-Dragonfly printed tank, ruffle Capri leggings, and Lucca shrug in aqua blue made a comfortable casual outfit.

The hooded Sadie dress with decorative front button jacket looked good as a tunic with skinny jeans or as a short dress.

Earth Creations clothing is stylish casual wear for earth lovers of all ages.

Amsterdam hemp clothing company, Hemp Hoodlamb, and its North American flagship store, Hoodlab, showed off select women’s garments from HHL’s urban eco-friendly clothing line.

HHL’s outerwear included a signature winter coat from the Sea Shepherd line, a pea coat and summer jacket.

All outerwear is solidly constructed with hemp fabrics, double stitched at stress points, and reinforced with a hemp cellulose water and wind proofing treatment.

The HHL signature winter coats are lined in luxurious Satifur, an exclusive blend of hemp, recycled PET plastic and acrylic fur.

House of Hoodlab custom screen printed hemp and organic cotton t-shirts were paired with stylish herringbone-weave miniskirts and shorts with pleated front pockets. Hemp Hoodlamb’s clothing is perfect for people who appreciate an urban clothing style.

Dress by Earth Creations, bag by Dharma Bags
Photo by Josh Rettie

Dharma Bags from Taos Hemp Company are beautiful and utilitarian travel bags for women and men. The three styles of bags are sewn in Taos, New Mexico with premium woven hemp in gorgeous solid colors.

Practical for everyday use, Dharma Bags can hold a lot of life’s necessities. The wide shoulder strap comfortably distributes the full weight of the bag’s content.  However functional, it is the simple and elegant beauty of Dharma Bags that inspires their everyday use.

Conscious Clothing, a green bridal boutique based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, stunned the audience with wedding couture.

The first gown, a corseted feathered top with peacock feathers and full skirt were made from a hemp and silk floral jacquard. A simple and elegant bias cut gown shimmered in hemp silk satin with a sheer chiffon train overlay.

Conscious Clothing green wedding couture. Photo by Susan Squibb.

The “Steam Punk” gown, made of hemp silk satin had an elaborate bottom ruffle around the full skirt. A raw edged organic cotton voile ruffle runs around the neck that draped down the back to create a very becoming dress.

In addition to bridal wear, Conscious Clothing will soon be launching an evening wear collection.

The future of hemp fashion was showcased by the designing talent at NY Fashion Academy. Four designers came up with innovative cannabis lifestyle clothing utilizing hemp fabrics from EnviroTextilesand HempTraders.

Erika Ray crafted unique hand dyed and hand painted hoodies from hemp and organic cotton for cozy cool street looks that heal the planet.

Malia Peoples, constructed an oversized smoking jacket, for local musician Boris Budd, with classic natural hemp fabric and accented cuffs.

Hand-dyed and painted hoodie by Erika Ray. Photo by Josh Rettie

Kiymbah Tytania designed couture men’s and women’s trim aprons with black hemp fabric and red pocket, ruffle and tie accents.

The attractive and practical aprons have handy pockets for holding trimming scissors, cell phones and rolling papers.

A wide pocket in the front of the men’s apron catches loose trim to roll up a doobie for break time!

Marcella Kelly presented the exquisite Seattle Colorfest collection.

Marcella made a dark green hemp and cotton jersey knit dress with black hemp silk yokes, side panels, accents, and a black hemp silk charmeuse corset belt.

The belt contained handy lifestyle stash pockets. A pair of his and hers High Society smoking jackets, made for Seattle Hempfest organizers, Vivian McPeak and  Kanti Selig ,were constructed out of plum Hempcel fabric with black hemp silk charmeuse collars, cuffs and pocket welts. Specialty pockets on the inside hold legal cannabis and accouterment.

The most surprising outfit in the Colorfest collection was a bright coral jersey knit t-shirt dress with hemp silk collar paired with a yellow hemp silk pleated asymmetrical skirt with a grommet waistband. This lightweight and festive garment wowed the eco-fashionistas in the crowd.

http://dailydoobie.com/hempfest-seattle/

In its 22^nd year, Seattle Hempfest is the largest cannabis event in the world, with a quarter million happy and blissed out people attending the protestival, one part festival and one part protest.  Seattle Hempfest, which is free and open to the public. It is one of the most inspiring experiences a cannabis activist and enthusiast can experience.  It’s a mile and a half long celebration of cannabis culture and a festival where people can safely consume marijuana publicly and enjoy a beautiful day in the park, with entertainment, a vibrant marketplace, food and food for thought.

The recent passage of Washington’s marijuana legalization law, I-502, had voters and cannabis enthusiasts ready for a public celebratory toke at Seattle Hempfest this year. Although it is still illegal to publicly smoke marijuana in Washington, within the safety of Seattle Hempfest, people smoked, vaporized and consumed cannabis.  With great enthusiasm, people took hits from four and six foot bongs, and socialized with circles of friends or friendly strangers while passing around enormous joints. The overall effect was a peaceful and happy crowd.  Seattle Hempfest is an event where people can safely consume marijuana publicly without fear of arrest and prosecution.  As trivializing as this act may be perceived, public marijuana smoking is a form of protest.

The nonviolent protest is the heart of Seattle Hempfest.  The roots of Seattle Hempfest began in 1991 as the Washington Hemp Expo.   Five hundred people turned out to the event organized by the Seattle Peace Heathens Community Action Group. The Seattle Peace Heathens were a voluntary group of alternative cultural advocates who produced and promoted peace and social justice community projects.  The Washington Hemp Expo touched a nerve in the community and the event grew exponentially every year.

By 1994, the growth of the event, now called Seattle Hempfest, was raising the attention and concern of local government and law enforcement, which had been turning a blind eye to the unpatrolled event.  With the help of the ACLU, Seattle Hempfest was identified as a legitimate political rally, and not a “pot party” as detractors wanted to categorize it.  Seattle Hempfest had a counter- cultural flamboyance, but was professionally savvy in negotiations with local agencies.

Seattle Hempfest has expanded from a one day event to three days. The crowd attendance has grown from 15,000 people to 250,000 people.  All of this growth would not be possible without the planning and consistent effort of dedicated volunteers who have met the increasing logistical demands and more complex permit requirements with the city government.  Over the weekend of Seattle Hempfest, the number of volunteers swells to over a thousand as all event activities are coordinated to keep everything running smooth and safe 24 hours a day.

Volunteer Powered Seattle Hempfest.
“There is no nation like donation”

This year, Seattle Police Department received praise and chuckles for handing out Nacho Cheese Doritos to people attending Hempfest. Affixed to the snack bags were informational and joke riddled stickers advising the festivalgoers some of the new marijuana regulations with I-502.  Among the text was “This sticker is not a lawyer and cannot provide you with legal advice.”  And  “The contents of this package are as delicious as they appear”.

One key part of visualizing the annual political protest message of Seattle Hempfest is the event poster.   Past images evoke and depict messages of peace, hemp agriculture, and awareness of nonviolent prisoners, public education, and idyllic scenes of future possibility. Poster images have captured the fundamental messages of political protest at Seattle Hempfest. This year’s poster uses a popular image for the federal government: the iconic Uncle Sam is passing a lighted joint in front of a glowing Emerald City.  “I want YOU at the Seattle Hempfest” is what the headline reads.

Marijuana legalization has not been the only political destination for Seattle Hempfest. Previous years, a single protest message was crafted and presented to bring attention to different issues related to marijuana prohibition. To demonstrate marijuana reform has made a significant progressive step but has not reached its destination three protest messages were emphasized this year.

The first Seattle Hempfest protest platform is “eliminate marijuana from the Federal Schedule.”  As you may know, the Federal Schedule is the federal drug policy that lists marijuana as a controlled substance and having no current medical use in treatment.  Schedule 1 substances are legally defined as highly addictive and have the most restrictive laws regarding use, possession and distribution.  Seattle Hempfest recommends going beyond moving marijuana from its current schedule status, and moving it completely out of the Federal Schedule.  The reasoning for this is the two most widely consumed drugs, recreational alcohol and tobacco are both exempt from Federal Scheduling. Marijuana with its relative history of safety should also be exempt.

The second protest platform is “harm reduction.” Harm reduction measures usually includes efforts to change the impact in society of mass incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders and related injustices.  Seattle Hempfest is shifting harm reduction to a personal level with a series of health pamphlets called, Cannabis Gut Checks. These pamphlets share information on recent scientific studies relating to topics of health and safety of cannabis use and depression, driving, health, lungs, memory, mental health, pregnancy and teens.  The pamphlets candidly discuss the risks of cannabis use and provide the reader with additional resources for information.

The third protest platform is “voter power.” To harness the right in our representative democracy, Seattle Hempfest encourages voter registration. The Hempfest Voter Registration team members walk the festival with clipboards and knowledgably answer questions and help register Washington state voters.  They assist voters with changes of address,  register newly eligible voters who are turning eighteen, and field questions regarding the eligibility of convicted felons, who have recently been restored the right to vote in Washington.

Voter Registration at Seattle Hempfest

Political protest happens all day from the stages, the shouts of call and response engage the crowd as HEMP is repeatedly spelled out with a “give me an H, give me an E”  In between band sets, notable luminaries from Washington, Oregon, California and Vancouver give encouraging, engaging and informative speeches.

Speakers include Seattle and Washington elected officials, activists, legislative advocates, lawyers, doctors, patients, writers, growers, and directors of national drug reform organizations.   A longtime Seattle Hempfest favorite is Elvy Musikka, a medical marijuana patient, who since 1988 has received 300 joints a month from the Federal IND program.

Seattle Hempfest is an amazing and inspiring event for cannabis activists and enthusiasts.  It is a focused cannabis reform rally, a gigantic celebration of culture and music, and a weekend where people are free to consume marijuana safely in public and enjoy a beautiful day on a waterfront park with a lot of smiling people.  Seattle Hempfest is the largest cannabis event in the world and at its heart is the belief nonviolent protest can create positive change. You’ve got to see it to believe it.

I’m an enthusiastic consumer and product tester of hemp and marijuana products.  This column showcases  the best of what I see and sample in the marketplace.

Do you eat hemp? You should. Hemp seed is a superfood, it contains all necessary macronutrients, complete protein and healthy polyunsaturated fats.  Hemp seed meat tastes simple, sweet and nutty.  Thankfully, getting the amazing health benefits of hemp is so easy with shelled hemp seeds.

Shelled hemp seed is one of the best innovations in hemp food. There are several brands of shelled hemp seeds, all of comparable and consistent high quality. I like them all, but I like the warmth of Hemp Hearts as a product name. So I tend to buy Hemp Hearts.  Who loves you?

Hemp loves you!

Hemp Hearts makes eating healthier plain and easy. My standard recipe for instant health food is fix whatever I’m eating and then right before serving,  I sprinkle some Hemp Hearts on the  dish.  With  3 tablespoons sprinkled on top,  a  boost of 10 grams of complete protein and  11 grams of  polyunsaturated Omega oils, in the perfect 3 to 1 ratio, gets added to the meal. Simple and easy.  For more hemp nutritional information, go here.

A remedial reminder: You cannot get high from eating hemp food. You cannot eat hemp and test positive for THC.   Any sensation of being high or stoned is purely a placebo effect. It’s fun to pretend though.

Hemp Hearts are made by Manitoba Harvest.   Manitoba Harvest, was founded in 1998, with the goals to educate consumers and manufacture the highest quality hemp foods.   Their ethics and social responsibility are part of the company structure. For example, one of Manitoba Harvest’s company commitments is to use organic and non-gmo food sources. You can be happy knowing your consumer purchasing power is supporting a conscious company and industrial hemp agriculture in North America.

So, start eating hemp regularly.    Hemp Hearts are available in health food stores and vitamin and supplement stores. Go to  http://www.manitobaharvest.com/ for more  information or to order your own Hemp Hearts.