When the doors to Hempfest Central officially opened at 1 p.m. Friday, there were more more than a dozen people in line at what previously had been a vacant Lake City storefront. The day before, as supporters turned out for a soft opening, the store did more than $4,000 in business.
When Vivian McPeak and friends organized the first Hempfest in 1991, he never thought in a million years it would become as big as it is today — with an office and retail store to promote hemp-based products and
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When the doors to Hempfest Central officially opened at 1 p.m. Friday, there were more more than a dozen people in line at what previously had been a vacant Lake City storefront. The day before, as supporters turned out for a soft opening, the store did more than $4,000 in business.
When Vivian McPeak and friends organized the first Hempfest in 1991, he never thought in a million years it would become as big as it is today — with an office and retail store to promote hemp-based products and such pro-pot accoutrements as pipes and bongs.
It all goes to support the continued existence of the three-day summer festival for which Hempfest is best known, the world’s largest cannabis-law reform rally, which began in 1991 with 500 attendees under a different name.
“Maybe I would have paced myself if I had known it would be a 22-year experience,” McPeak said with a laugh.
This year, more than 300,000 people packed Myrtle Edwards Park on the Seattle waterfront during Hempfest. It now has crowds at least as large as Bumbershoot or the Bite of Seattle, and with the pro-pot attitude in King County, it’s not surprising Washington became one of two states this month voting to legalize marijuana.
“For 20 years we’ve been throwing the Hempfest out of our homes, and now we have a brick-and-mortar,” said McPeak, who also is a seattlepi.com reader blogger. “It’s a Hempfest mullet with offices in the back and the storefront in the front.”
The idea for a Hempfest office had been growing for more than a year, though organizers said it was initially difficult to find a landlord willing to rent to them. Hempfest Central is located at 12351 Lake City Way N.E. in the Capo Building, a space that was built in 1946. The Hempfest space was originally home to The Cove restaurant and later Seattle Athletic and Exercise after a 1980 major renovation.
With permits, required portable toilets and other expenses, the three-day Hempfest costs more than $400,000, and the Hempfest Central office coordinates the staff of roughly 100 people.
“We’re just really excited to be a part of the community and hopefully, maybe, someday generate enough revenue to hire some our longest-standing staff members who really sacrificed to really help us get to where we are today,” McPeak said Friday.
He also praised the North Seattle Chamber of Commerce, formerly the Lake City Chamber of Commerce, for their acceptance and encouragement.
Hempfest Central is technically is the second storefront the Hempfest team put together. The first was in fall 1991 near Northeast 43rd Street and University Way Northeast. Called the Peace Heathens Bazaar Regalia, it sold items on consignment and provided a link to resources for people in need. The Peace Heathens gave street kids free clothes, vouchers for free AIDS tests and information about emergency housing.
What the group had in ambition, they didn’t have in business experience. McPeak said this time around, after years of success with Hempfest, he and others are better prepared with the same ambition.
Hempfest survived and evolved in part because organizers knew early on they needed to team with people more skilled and capable than himself, McPeak said. He points to general manager Sharon Whitson, who was the primary creator of Hempfest Central.
At the store Friday she showed the many items for sale: Hemp body lotion, hemp oil soap, hemp leave-in conditioner, hemp protein powder, organic hemp shakes, hemp mud masks – dozens of items imported from Canada and other countries. They also sell hand-blown pipes and bongs made in Eugene, Ore.
There’s “chronic-art” from Cliff Maynard – elaborate artwork created from roach papers and Elmer’s glue. An original Hempfest poster Maynard made hangs in the office area.
“We smoked all of these,” McPeak said, smiling at the finished piece. “We can say that now.”
In 1987, McPeak formed the Seattle Peace Heathens Community Action Group, which ultimately grew to form the Hempfest organizing crew. The group organized a Gas Works Park peace vigil in 1990, protesting the Gulf War, and drug advocate Timothy Leary was among the visitors during the six months it lasted. The protesters sang, meditated and one day invited a speaker from a marijuana law-reform group.
That evolved into the Washington Hemp Expo in spring 1991, drawing about 500 people to Volunteer Park. Attendance quadrupled the following year when it took the name Hempfest, and jumped to 5,000 people in 1993 — a year that featured blatant marijuana smoking in the “Bong-a-Thon,” but didn’t come with major repercussions from police.
About 60 people were cited for illegal marijuana use at the 1997 Hempfest, but none among the more than 300,000 who attended this year was cited for pot smoking, Seattle Police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn was among the many speakers at the 2011 Hempfest.
It was 1994 when Hempfest organizers noticed a change.
“I think everybody, including the city, including the neighbors, were overwhelmed at the sheer turnout that happened that year,” McPeak said of the more than 15,000 people who attended. “We basically maxed out Gas Works Park in our first year there. And that’s the year we really went, ‘Wow, this thing’s growing, people are really responding to this issue. Maybe this is the time for this issue to grow.'”
A month after the 2003 Hempfest, Seattle voters passed an initiative making the investigation, arrest and prosecution of marijuana offenses, when the drug was intended for adult personal use, the lowest law enforcement priority. Medical marijuana has been legal in Washington since 1998.
Earlier this month, after voters passed I-502, the initiative to make adult use of small amounts of marijuana legal, prosecutors in counties including King, Pierce and Spokane said they would drop low-level marijuana cases and not prosecute them in the future. Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes had already said he would not prosecute low-level marijuana cases.
When Hempfest began in 1991, “I think a lot of people didn’t take it seriously,” McPeak said Friday. “And now I think the federal government takes legalization very seriously.”
Casey McNerthney can be reached at 206-448-8220 or at [email protected]. Follow Casey on Twitter at twitter.com/mcnerthney.