"It's
a
beautiful
day with good
vibes," Chad Anderson,
sophomore
at
the
Rhode Island and
a
University a
of
member of
Students for Sensible
Drug Policy (SSDP), said on Saturday in regards to URI's annual Hempfest. SSDP organized Hempfest, which took place fi-om 1 1
1 1 p.m.
a.m. to
quadrangle
and
on
brought
the
in
an
estimated 1 ,000 to 2,000 people. Anderson said music was the
largest attraction
at
Hempfest
and the band Zox drew the
biggest crowd. "I've enjoying the music," Bowes,
a
been Tina
fi-eshman said. The
event, which
was
open to the
URI student
body as well as the local community, provided people with free entertainment from local bands, and vendors who sold and a
food, hemp jewerly clothing. Mark Blanchette,
vendor for the Wormtown
Trading Company has been coming to Hempfest since 1997. He described the enthusiasm and turnout of URI's
Hempfest
to be much better than many
other imiversities. "For
college
this is put together well," he said. "They do a better job here than in other events
schools." The array of activism allowed
some people to appreciate more than just music and shopping. "Hempfest
sounded cool when I to come
here,"
Dane
was
asked
Putman,
a
resident of Ashaway, R.I. said. "I like what it stands for and I
would
definitely help
its
causes
out. I think it should come back
here every six months." SSDP used the event
as an
oppurtunity to educate the public about issues they promote. "Hempfest is basically here for people to have a good time, see a good show and look at
informafion about the failures
dmg war," said Chris Tschirley a senior at URI and ofthe
the treasurer of SSDP. "We want to -
spread education."
by Tamar Weinberg Issue 4/20/2004
(article courtesy ofthe Good
5 Cent
Cigar)