Madison NORML

Source: The Beep
Pubdate: Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Website: http://www.beepcentral.com/
Contact:: beepmaster@beepcentral.com
Author: Rebecca Fyffe Contributing Writer

MADISON'S MARIJUANA FEST - A PERFECT TRIP WITH YOUR BUDS

What will you be doing at 4:20 p.m. on the weekend of Oct. 7-8? For a fun time, head to Madison, Wis., for the 36th annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival.

The Harvest Festival has many offerings to inhale, including a party atmosphere for revelers who come just to have a good time and enjoy the free concerts. Other festival participants, who consider themselves more politically active, will enjoy lectures by pro-cannabis activists and political leaders who support drug policy reform.

Previous Harvest Fests have featured talks by candidates for sheriff, state representatives, scientists and medical pot users. This year's festival will feature speeches by activist Jim Miller, whose wife suffered a long battle with multiple sclerosis, author Gary Stork and Jacki Rickert, executive director of Is My Medicine Legal Yet?

Regardless of which aspect of the festival you find most potent, you'll have a good trip because at only two-and-a-half hours from Chicago, Madison's Harvest Fest is much more accessible than comparable pot-themed events held in Amsterdam and Canada's British Columbia province.

Since Madison is home to the University of Wisconsin, one of America's most progressive universities, it's a natural site to host this '60s flashback to a freer time where drugs and public assembly merged to shape the music, style and feel of America's most psychedelic decade.

Start your pot-themed weekend on Friday, Oct. 6, at Cardinal Bar, located at 418 E. Wilson St. The party - which is sponsored by Madison NORML (which stands for the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws) and Is My Medicine Legal Yet? - goes from 5 to 8 p.m. and features speakers and food for $10.

The main event is at noon on Saturday, Oct. 7. To get involved - or just hang out with some buds - head to the Library Mall by Madison's UW campus for more than six hours of live music with performances by Not On Mars, Yokanizu Project, Tony Castaneda's Latin Jazz, MOTO and Cosmic Railroad. Between acts, pro-cannabis speakers will take the stage to share their views on topics such as medical marijuana, decriminalization of marijuana and the war on drugs.

Like any good street fest, Harvest Fest features artisan booths selling all sorts of hemp-themed art, jewelry and products, while food tents abound to help tie-dye clad festival goers curb the munchies.

Mike Dostalek, 29, of Bensenville, says he plans to stock up on body lotions, lip balm and clothing made from hemp at the festival.

"I like the natural products for sale there," says Dostalek, who'll be attending the festival for the second time this year. "I love to wear hemp because in addition to looking and feeling great, it's great for the environment."

On Sunday, Oct. 8, return to the Library Mall where the final day of the fest gets rolling at 1 p.m. At 2 p.m., the festival's parade begins with a march to the Wisconsin State Capitol for a pro-cannabis activism rally and more live music, including a performance by Little Marsh Overflow.

On weekends, free street parking is available throughout town, and all of the festival events are within walking distance.

Keith Turausky, a 30-year-old writer and philosophy student from Prospect Heights, considers Madison's Harvest Fest important because it brings personal freedom issues to the forefront. "Pot smoking is such a victimless crime that it's crazy for our legal system to spend the millions of dollars that it spends to prosecute it," he says.

Troy Lamb and Julie Koehler, both of Chicago, have attended the festival for the past three years, and plan to make 2006 their fourth. "We try to fill a carload of people every year and make a party of it," says Koehler, 26. "This year we're caravanning with four cars and introducing a lot of new people."

Koehler says she plans to don green glitter, fairy wings and felt cutouts of pot leaves pinned over her green leotard for the two-day festival. Lamb, meanwhile, plans to wear a T-shirt he silk-screened to read, "Marijuana helped my uncle die with dignity."

Lamb, 28, says his uncle came to live with Lamb's family during the final months of his battle with cancer and used marijuana to stimulate his appetite, ease his pain and curb nausea. "Medical marijuana gave him the extra time and quality of life he needed to say goodbye to everyone and settle his affairs," he says.

"The festival's fun, but it's also important," Koehler says. "We come to celebrate, but also to show our support for medical pot."