The organized execution of the event (which seemed so easy) took 5 months of diligent and focused effort to produce. The many successes of this year’s event were possible because of the contributions and dedication from the talented women who comprised the 2015 Mother’s High Tea Committee. Meet nine other brilliant women of cannabis business and legalization in Colorado.
Mrs. Christie Lunsford, Co-Chair. Christie Lunsford returns to Mother’s High Tea Committee as Co-Chair and Event Master of Ceremonies. Christie, a skilled professional speaker, is a pivotal figure in the Colorado cannabis business community. I first met Christie in 2010 at early meetings of an (now defunct) infused product manufacturing group. (This was before the first wave of marijuana business legislation.) In the verbal fray of chaotic and charged meetings, Christie would be a voice guiding the discordant group to decisions and offering practical solutions to contribute to the goals of the developing group.
Mrs. Christie Lunsford. Photo courtesy of 5280 Magazine.
In our introductory conversations, Christie described herself as an advocate. Not a recreational consumer herself, Christie advocates for medicinal cannabis via infused topical and oral (sublingual) products blended with other synergistic and therapeutic herbs. Among Christie’s early industry accomplishments was her role as marketing and media manager for Dixie Elixir & Edibles. Christie formulated the therapeutic hemp and marijuana products for the botanical line of Dixie products. She also linked the mainstreaming company to the grassroots medical marijuana community and was a pioneer in professionalizing the Denver cannabis community.
Christie has a long legacy of mentoring women and fostering the community within cannabis business and medical circles. She was an organizer and facilitator of a regularly scheduled women’s networking breakfast, a founding board member of the Women’s CannaBusiness Network (WCBN) created in 2012. As WCBN changed and developed into Women Grow, Christie was a founding member and even was the keynote speaker at the first meeting in 2014. Many women in the community, myself included, have been encouraged by Christie.
For Mother’s High Tea, Christie developed, sparked and rolled out the Facebook historical women and tea photo campaign to create and reinforce the classy feel of the event. In production, Christie primarily served as advisor. In her performance as MC, her thoughtful tribute to the members of the audience who had dedicated five or more years of service to cannabis legalization was heartfelt and memorable.
2015 Mother’s High Tea MCs and Speakers, L to R.
Ms. Susan Squibb, Mrs. Kristi Kelly, Senator Beth Martinez Humenick, Mrs. Christie Lunsford, and Ms. AC Braddock. (Not pictured, Ms. Diane Fornbacher) Photo courtesy CliquePics.
Currently, Christie’s professional advice and development services are sought after by investors and emerging cannabis companies across the country looking to gain a knowledgeable edge in license application process and by startup companies working on cannabis product development. In addition to her consulting company, Christie is a health and wellness writer for Ladybud.com, a hemp education writer for The Hemp Connoisseur and THC Radio co-host.
Publishers of The Hemp Connoisseur: Mr. David Maddalena and Mrs. Christianna Brown. Christianna holds the primary event graphic she designed for Mother’s High Tea. Photo courtesy Cannabis Camera.
Mrs. Christianna Brown, Graphic Design Chair. Christianna is a tour de force at The Hemp Connoisseur, the Denver based cannabis culture magazine. As Publisher, Art Director and Graphic Designer, Christianna photographs and designs the monthly covers and designs the content layouts. She also directs sales and marketing. Christianna additionally consults and designs compliance labels for cannabis packaging. For Mother’s High Tea, Christianna set the elegant tone for the event by designing the graphics for Mother’s High Tea. She created images for the Facebook page, designed the beautiful postcard invitations, monthly advertisements, 11 X 17 posters, event program and round event stickers for the craft table.
Ms. Caren Kershner and Ms. Sara Conrad.
Photo courtesy Cannabis Camera.
Ms. Sara Conrad: Social Media Chair. Sara Conrad, comes to the cannabis community from a career background in technology. She became an active volunteer in the cannabis community during the Amendment 64 campaign and currently is a booster for NORML, National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) and Marijuana Business Association (MJBA). Sara is a social media strategist and adept at social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, Pinterest Tumbler, Instagram and Facebook– (of course). For Mother’s High Tea, Sara focused on frequent posting, tweeting and sharing Mother’s High Tea on social media to increase presence and drive awareness (and ticket sales). Sara added value to the event promotions by interacting with the sponsoring companies.
Ms. Susan Squibb and Mrs. CiCi Dunn. Photo Courtesy of Cannabis Camera.
Mrs. CiCi Dunn, Ticket Chair. CiCi joins the Colorado cannabis community by way of Amsterdam, where she has been an integral part of the well-established hemp clothing store, Hemp Works and notable hemp clothing company, Hemp Hoodlamb (HHL). CiCi established the North American hub for HHL with the innovative art and lifestyle concept store, Hoodlab. Additionally, CiCi has significant production management experience from producing the yearly fashion show at the Amsterdam High Times Cannabis Cup. For Mother’s High Tea, CiCi was in charge of guest services, managing ticket sales, organizing guest name tags and directed the check in table.
Miss Miss Kara Janowsky. Photo courtesy of Kara.
Miss Kara Janowski, Volunteer Chair. Kara, an enthusiastic, kind and ambitious college graduate, has proven leadership skills developed from CU Boulder chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and as Boulder Chapter organizer of Women Grow. Kara additionally is an established event volunteer for NCIA and The ArcView Group. Post graduation, Kara is developing her career in cannabis business and is set to develop and accomplish her goals. For Mother’s High Tea, Kara developed the day of production time schedule and coordinated volunteers at the event.
Ms. Caren Kershner and Ms. Sara Conrad. Photo courtesy Cannabis Camera
Ms. Caren Kershner, Craft Chair. Caren is the Executive Director of the Colorado Industrial Hemp Coalition. Caren is a familiar face to the residents of the San Luis Valley and she smartly utilizes her local educational authority as a retired science and art teacher to advocate for hemp agriculture in the valley. For Mother’s High Tea, she is a dedicated, helpful and kind contributor. Caren developed the multiple activities at the art table, including the tea time word search and coloring pages. Caren contributed a letter to the letter writing table for New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez regarding recent hemp legislation she vetoed from the widely supportive state legislature.
Ms. Jill Lamoureux.
Photo courtesy LinkedIn.
Ms. Jill Lamoureux, Letter Writing Chair. Jill Lamoureux began in the cannabis community as owner of the first licensed dispensary and grow in Boulder County. In the initial development of cannabis business in Colorado, Jill served on the first state task force for the development of regulations. Currently Jill is a legislative liaison and regulatory consultant with development accomplishments with Americans for Safe Access, Denver Relief Consulting and Carbon Bond Holdings. For Mother’s High Tea, Jill, coordinated the event letters written to federal, state and local representatives by the Mother’s High Tea Committee and assembled guests. The purpose of the letter writing table is to continue and foster communication with elected officials on the various topics related to legislative reform. Jill coordinated the event letter writing efforts from notable nonprofit organizations, SSDP and Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) and brought in the inspiration voice of recent DU Economics graduate, Caitlin McKennie for the rousing letter to President Obama. Jill, excitingly was unable to attend Mother’s High Tea this year because she accepted a great opportunity to consult in Israel!
Ms. Belita Nelson speaking at launch of Womens Marijuana Movement, 2010. Photo Courtesy of SAFER.
Ms. Belita Nelson, Speaker Chair. Belita, a former drug warrior (a debate coach for DEA!) has experienced catastrophes of the Drug War first hand and now advocates for cannabis legal reform as a lobbyist in Colorado. Belita’s heart felt speech helped the launch of Women’ s Marijuana Movement in 2010. In her home state of Texas, Belita ran her own large scale event production company. For Mother’s High Tea, Belita with her Republican party contacts, persuaded and confirmed our surprising keynote speaker, Senator Beth Martinez Humenik.
Miss Katie O Block, Ms. Sara Conrad and Ms. Susan Squibb. (Mother’s High Tea selfie)
Miss Katie O Block, Sponsorship Chair. Katie, a relative newcomer to the cannabis community, is full of fresh energy as Marketing Director for Surna, an efficiency engineering company for cannabis grows. Katie was effective and professional at communicating and coordinating the event sponsors prior to the event. She is a fantastic young talent!
These are the amazing women that contributed to the many successes of this year’s Mother High Tea. Everyone, of course, did more than what is specifically featured here, their efforts are significant and appreciated. A toast to the 2015 Mother’s High Tea Committee!
Mother’s High Tea 2015. Photo courtesy Cannabis Camera.
Consumer Confidential photos: limited edition Hemp Hoodlamb fabric patterns
Here’s a collection of pot culture essentials for the stoners and midnight tokers you know and love.
Across the board marijuana legalization seems to be right around the corner. Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, has dubbed 2013 the “Best Year Ever in Drug Policy Reform,” and says “we’ve hit the tipping point” when it comes to marijuana legalization.
The latest national Gallup poll found a 10 point jump in support for legalization of marijuana, up from 48% last year to 55% this year, and the legalization victories in Colorado and Washington last year were remarkable. On top of that, the entire nation of Uruguay made weed legal last month.There’s much to celebrate.
What better time to revel in these victories than the holidays, and what better way than with fun and funky pot presents and “cannagifts?”
Maybe you live in Colorado or Washington where legalization has already kept thousands out of jail and saved taxpayers millions of dollars, or maybe you just want to spread the joy, humor and social style of that surrounds this miraculous herb as the end of prohibition spreads across the country and the world.
Whatever your motives, here’s a collection of cannabis culture essentials for the stoners and midnight tokers you know and love this holiday season and beyond.
1. Comics and Books:
- Tales of the World Famous Drive Thru Bud—In this comic book series from Golden Frog Press each tale is laced with cannabis humor. For example in “Sinsemilla Ninjas from Mars” the space ship is hilariously attacked by the Super Spider Mites from Mars. The series is based on characters created by Northern California illustrator Pat Ryan, and the serial characters, Baron Von Bongenheimer, Humboldt Honey and Super Skunk, among others live out their funny high society adventures via brief and hilarious stories.
- The Emperor Wears No Clothes—Every stoner must have a copy of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, by Jack Herer. Herer is the father of the modern cannabis movement and this book, first published in 1985, is like the “Bible” of the cause. It compiles the historical uses of hemp and marijuana and the political and business developments leading up to modern marijuana prohibition.
- G.R.A.S.S.—Herer’s 1973 title, G.R.A.S.S. or Great Revolutionary American Standard System: The Official Guide for Assessing the Quality of Marijuana on the 1 to 10 Scale is another underground classic. G.R.A.S.S details a rating system for marijuana quality and a scale to determine your buzz level in the days when Panama Red and Acapulco Gold were mythical varieties of premium imported marijuana.
2. Vape Pens:, Cloud 2.0 by CloudPenz, Trifecta by White Rhino, DabOTG, by DabOTG
Vaporizer pens are all the rage right now. Originally developed as a harm reduction tool for tobacco smokers, vape pens offer a convenient, odorless and portable way to puff cannabis. High Times Magazine recently tested 32 new vape pen models. With vigorous and repeated testing, the Cloud 2.0 by Cloud Penz won top honors for Best Mini and Trifecta by White Rhino was named Most Versatile. Judges favored DabOTG with Best Overall and Best Hit awards.
Photo: DabOTG vape pen.
Designed specifically for hash wax, High Times testers found the Cloud 2.0 pen easy to use and dependable. It comes in a variety of stealth colors or bold fashion patterns. The Trifecta can vaporize flowers or hash wax and oil, making it the most adaptable vape pen. DabOTG, designed for hash wax, has a glass dome so you can see the vapors and four adjustable heat settings. The ceramic components make the Dab OTG a good choice for air travel.
Photo: Cloud 2.0 vape pen.
3. Hats: Grassroots California and Visual Fiber
- Grassroots California’s flat brim baseball caps—These blasé staples of sun care are crucial to cannabis style today, especially among the younger aficionados. Grassroots California has an extensive online catalog of hats, including artist editions, event and collaboration hats in almost any color or fabric combination. And, most designs have a secret stash pocket hidden within a stylish liner.
Photo: Grassroots California cap.
- Visual Fiber’s custom hats—This millennial-savvy business is located only on Facebook, and will custom-paint your chosen caps with in bold images of pop and pot culture. For elevating otherwise common headwear into unique works of art, Visual Fiber hats were the first, second and third place prizes at the recent Secret Cup, a national hash concentrate competition
Photo: Visual Fiber cap.
4. T-shirts:
- Kill Your Culture Apparel —Kill your Culture Apparel covers its T’s in popular cultural images and icons, with a 420 twist. Darth Vader becomes Darth Vapor as he puffs from a Volcano Vaporizer, while the Good Fellas transform the Dab Fellas. Designs are printed on soft, lightweight combed polyester and cotton blend fabric.
- Green Man Cannabis—Green Man Cannabis, a Medical Marijuana Center in Denver, designed the coolest yellow tank for women. On it, Wonder Woman saunters through a blue field of stars smoking a jay, her golden lasso at her waist.
Photo:Green Man Cannabis Wonder Woman tank.
5. Lighter Accessory: Kasher
The Kasher is a handy lighter accessory, especially useful to pipe smokers and dabbers. A simple metal sleeve fits snugly onto a BiC lighter, keeping it nearby when needed.
Slide the Kasher down the lighter and use the ingenious tool to stir and empty the pipe. The newest Kashers, made of thicker stainless steel, can be used as a dab tool for concentrates. They’re easy to clean and easy to reuse and attach to a new lighter.
Photo: Kasher ligher accessory.
6. Limited Edition Winter Coats by Street Artists Sam Flores and Jeremy Fish
Amsterdam’s hemp clothing company, Hemp Hoodlamb, released a limited edition run of signature winter coats patterned in fabrics designed by street artists Sam Flores and Jeremy Fish.
Sam Flores design for limited edition Hemp Hoodlab coats.
Hemp Hoodlamb coats showcase authentic hemp in a modern, metropolitan style. From the hemp shell with organic hemp cellulose water proofing treatment, to the soft and warm Satifur liner made from hemp fiber and recycled bottles, Hemp Hoodlamb coats are high quality, and easy on the planet.
Jeremy Fish design for limited edition Hemp Hoodlab coats.
The coats are designed with lifestyle pockets: a microfiber lined sunglass pocket on the chest, Satifur lined hand pockets, inside pockets for rolling papers and a secret pocket for your stash. Hemp Hoodlamb coats can be purchased online, but the Limited Edition Sam Flores and Jeremy Fish coats are only sold at Hoodlab San Francisco and Hoodlab Denver.
7. Glass Pipe: Snodgrass Family Glass and Chubby Glass
- Bob Snodgrass is the inventor of the artistic glass pipe and father of the glass blowing culture in Oregon. Check out his online shop for a hammer, sherlock or sidecar style pipe made with his signature color-changing glass.
Photo: Snodgrass pipe.
- Chubby Glass—a Boulder, Colorado collective since 2001—makes the Celtic Spoon pipe, a shiny or sandblasted matte hand pipe in white swirled with another color. The bold and simple design is visually appealing and the opaque white pipe always looks tidy. The red and white Celtic Spoon is especially festive for the holidays.
8. Nug Jar: Sirens of the Sea by Kemmish Pottery
Keep your stash in a lovely handmade nug jar from Washington potters, Kemmish Pottery. Called Sirens of the Sea, jar depicts two sexy mermaids who perch atop a seaside rock overlooking the ocean and sky. It’s a pleasing handmade vessel with a wide mouth and cork lid. This object d’art is found at the Hempfest Central online store. All purchases from Hempfest Central support the annual production costs of Seattle Hempfest, the largest cannabis event in the world.
Photo: Sirens of the Sea nug jar.
]]>My best styling happened at the VIP Party. CiCi Dunn with Hemp Hoodlamb mandated edgy styling on the runway. I took the directive and put together this special look for the VIP Party. Special thanks to model and industry executive, AC Braddock for doing what I told her to do, it turned out epic!
Photos courtesy Tawnee Lynne Cowan Photography
Hemp Hoodlamb Pea Coat on the runway at VIP Party
Hemp Hoodlamb Pea Coat and House of Hoodlab Favela t-shirt.
Model’s own tights and boots.
Hemp Hoodlamb leaving a lasting impression on the runway.
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,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.
]]>This version includes a Best of Vendors coverage with unpublished event photos.I Lo
Seattle Hempfest is the largest cannabis event in the world. This year’s Hempfest was the first since the passage of I-502, Washington’s marijuana legalization law, and a quarter of a million people came to celebrate. During the third weekend of August, with hot and sunny weather, Hempfest occupied a mile and a half of Myrtle Edwards Park in downtown Seattle. Within the safety of Hempfest, people smoked, vaporized and consumed cannabis in public. Occasional cooling sea breezes wafted along the beautiful waterfront, joining the hovering cloud of freshly smoked marijuana. With a hundred bands and a hundred speakers entertaining and informing from six stages, and four hundred booths of vendors and nonprofits to visit, there was plenty to see and do at Seattle Hempfest this year.
Sit on the grass and smoke some grass.
The grass in Myrtle Edwards Park is a comfortable spot for a smoking sesh with friends. Hempfest’s crowd was reveling in public pot smoking as people with 4, 6 and 12 foot bongs sat toking up with a little help from their friends. Others were walking around flashing their newly purchased pieces. Stony and relatively subdued, the crowd enjoyed the surreal and liberating experience of not having to publicly hide their appreciation of cannabis.
Marijuana tshirt at Hempfest.
The waves of people walking were decked out in fancy and casual hemp and pot leaf fashions. Wearing a pot leaf or cannabis message T shirts, or pot leaf accessories, is practically ubiquitous in this scene (my personal favorite T shirt message was “This veteran is medicated for your protection.”) Other cannabis enthusiasts were decked out in bright necklaces, hats, sunglasses, scarves, socks, everything in their wardrobe adorned with pot leaves. Occasionally, someone was dressed in formal wear or fantasy fairy and animal costumes. Topless women sported pot leaf pasties and young families walked through the festival site with strollers.
Everlast jams onstage at Seattle Hempfest.
Boris and the Waterboarders protest with vicious humor at the Hemposium stage.
Samba music from Seeley Stage.
Listen to Music.
Area bands and musicians made up most of the musical entertainment at Seattle Hempfest. Bands played short sets and the genres were ever changing, going from reggae, to salsa, rock, punk, country rock, hip hop and electronica. Bellingham rockers Boris and the Waterboarders played songs of political protest and personal despair to the amused delight of the carefree crowd. Friday’s main stage afternoon acts were the Seattle Hempfest favorites, The Toyes, originators of song “Smoke Two Joints” and reggae groove house band, The Herbivores. Hempfest’s main stage featured nationally known acts Everlast and DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill. Hiphop rock fusion artist Everlast played to a crowd of “the most stoners I’ve ever seen in one place”. The mellow crowd pumped their fists and sang along with notable songs, I Get By”, “What Its Like” and a record scratching version of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”.
Soft serve hemp ice cream served at Munchie Market
Corn on the cob dipped in hemp butter for Hempfest
Get the munchies and eat hemp food.
There were plenty of food options to satisfy the munchies of everyone at Hempfest. Make it hempy by sprinkling on a tablespoon of Hemp Hearts, or order hemp protein powder added to a fresh fruit smoothie. Food booths offered typical festival food hotdogs, bratwurst, burritos, and French fries and meals with a hemp twist with hemp burgers, corn on the cob dipped in hemp butter or hemp coffee.
For dessert, fresh mini donuts, or scoops of Ben & Jerry’s and Baskin Robbins were tasty dessert options. Make it hempy with a waffle cone of soft serve hemp ice cream from Munchie Market.
Another snack option was provided by the Seattle Police Foundation. Seattle Police were giving away snack bags of Nacho Cheese Doritos with an attached informational sticker at Hempfest. The stickers humorously explained the new regulations under I-502 with funny reminders of “Don’t give, sell or shotgun weed to anyone under 21” and encouraged the crowd to enjoy Hempfest and “listen to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon at a reasonable volume”. Warning, The chips are as delicious as they appear!
Seattle Hempfest attendees excited to get bags of Nacho Cheese Doritos from Seattle Police Department
The sticker attached to the Nacho Cheese Dorito given out by Seattle Police Department during Hempfest
Hemp fashion show
The daily fashion show was a Hemposium highlight. I co-produced Fashion with a Passion for Freedom featuring garments from established hemp clothing companies across the country and exciting pieces made by fresh design students at the Seattle based NY Fashion Academy., featuring stylish, well designed clothes from experienced hemp clothing companies. Hemp Hoodlamb, Earth Creations, Taos Hemp Company and Conscious Clothing shared the runway with innovative cannabis lifestyle garments created from four Seattle based NY Fashion Academy clothing designers. Premium hemp fabrics were shaped into trim aprons and high society smoking jackets with inside pockets for carrying a now legal stash. Other innovative outfits, like hand painted hoodies and boldly colored and delicate hemp silk garments are redefining hemp in eco-fashion.
The bustling marketplace at Seattle Hempfest featured 400 vendors selling the gear and equipment required to consume, grow and live a cannabis life. These are the best hemp and cannabis lifestyle clothing options currently available.
HempMania, a fair trade and eco-friendly company since 1997, makes durable hemp bags and wallets for men and women. The wide variety of back packs, purses, market totes, wallets and accessory bags are available in pleasing earth tone colors and black.
Hemp bags for all at Hemp Mania!
Seedless Clothing was set up with a bright green booth and stacks of street art savvy t-shirts, shoes, hats, hoodies, jackets, belts, jeans and stickers. Seedless, a California based cannabis lifestyle clothing company, with its sprouting leaf logo is worn by the cool kids.
Love Seedless design zippered jacket by Seedless Clothing Company
I love Pot Lifestyle Clothing makes bold signature “I love pot” screen-printed T shirts and other fresh designs. They also carry green teddy bears with hidden stash pockets.
Popular teddy bears from I Love Pot Lifestyle
Urb Age Designs, is owned by Urb Thrasher, hard rocking DJ on 420Radio.org. Urb Age Designs has a variety of Rasta inspired screen-printed T shirts, barware, a Frisbee and disc golf line, and other lifestyle products to show off your love of the herb.
Urbage Design, an activist run business.
Kill Your Culture has clever pop culture brandalism images on soft fabric t-shirts, hats, bong pads, pipe coasters, ipad cases, and stickers. The irreverent images are stony and dabbed out version of characters we know and love like Darth Vader, Captain Crunch, Urkle, Frankenstein, and Keebler Elves.
Pop culture brandalism from Kill Your Culture
Good Life Roots is a Los Angeles based artist collective. Artists create original screen-printed T shirts and decoupage art on wallets, flasks and purses. The Good Life Roots crew then heads out on its summer vending tour going to a medley of festivals and markets throughout the season.
Good Life Roots, an artist collective with a seasonal vending calendar across the country
Seattle Hempfest merchandise booth In addition to being a general store, event merchandise sales is a fundraiser for Seattle Hempfest to cover the event production costs. This year’s event image, to celebrate I-502, was Uncle Sam passing a blazing joint. This iconic image is available on cotton or hemp shirts, posters and magnets.
The Hemp History Roadshow for college campuses had its informational hemp tutorial, open for education, showing the many applications for hemp in foods, building materials, fashion, body care, home goods and sporting goods. Visitors could see hemp in raw fiber materials, plastic composites, hemp food, and hemp clothing. A small store of T shirt and hats and educational DVDs was on display in the hemp hut.
The Hemp Hut housed the Hemp History Roadshow display outside the Hemposium
Cannabis Culture
Seattle Hempfest had some notable cannabis culture on display. The cross country adventures of the painted psychedelic Further (original spelling “FURTHUR,”) bus driven by Neal Cassady, captained by Ken Kesey and boarded by psychedelic pioneers the Merry Pranksters was parked near Hempfest’s main stage. This hand painted magic bus is part of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.
Furthur, at night Seattle Hempfest.
A fleet of Fishy Foods/ Label GMO foods/ art cars from Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps
Other art cars onsite was the Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps sponsored fleet of cars topped with giant fishy GMO frankenfoods. These fishy food cars came from WashingtonDC to Seattle for Hempfest to raise coast to coast awareness for labeling GMO foods and to educate voters on an upcoming GMO ballot issue in Washington.
Speakers, encourage, engage and inform the crowds in between band setups.
Here’s a list of the notable hemp speakers at this year’s Hempfest:
Hemp educator David Piller of Hemp History Roadshow
Authors Chris Conrad (Hemp: Lifeline of the Future), and Todd Dalloto (The Hemp Cookbook: From Seed to Shining Seed)
Hemp legislative advocates Steve Levine Director of Hemp Industries Association and Vote Hemp and Paul Stanford, Director of the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp.
Business owners David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and Adam Eidenger of Capitol Hemp.
Crowd favorites included legendary growers Jorge Cervantes and Ed Rosenthal and cannabis comedian Ngaio Bealum.
This year’s Seattle Hempfest was a liberating and fun experience, but beyond that, it was educational. For one magical weekend Seattle’s Myrtle Edwards park was alight with music, food, vendors, speakers, and endless opportunities to learn and appreciate the cannabis plant.
Seattle Hempfest 2013
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