Harvest Fest 41 gains more ground on Cannabis Prohibition

MADISON: Despite the untimely passing of longtime festival organizer Ben Masel earlier this year, the 41st Annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival showed the yearly event is not going away, but instead growing and becoming more polished. Masel organized the festival for all but its first year before losing his battle with cancer April 30. The festival is coordinated by the Madison and Wisconsin chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the Wisconsin medical cannabis advocacy group Is My Medicine Legal YET? (IMMLY).

The festival theme, riffing off the football rivalry between Wisconsin and Nebraska by dubbing it the "A Clash of Two Historically Rich Hemp Producing States," was Ben's idea, a product of early festival planning meetings from last winter.

Harvest Fest 41 also demonstrated that organized resistance to cannabis prohibition is steadily gaining ground both in Wisconsin as well as nationally. While another Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act (JRMMA) will be introduced later this session, politics have all but stalled forward progress statewide cannabis law reform efforts in the legislature. However the formation of new NORML chapters across the state demonstrates the status quo does not sit well with ordinary Wisconsinites.

Harvest Fest 41 paired nicely with the highly anticipated college football game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Nebraska Huskers. The nationally televised game brought tens of thousands of Nebraska fans to Madison and the 7pm start time brought a constant flow of football fans navigating to Camp Randall or downtown.

They found a peaceful event featuring an array of great live music, speakers, a hemp fashion show and two rows of vendors. Sacramento California comedian and publisher Ngaio Bealum was stellar as the event emcee, diligently keeping things rolling and faces smiling as the celebration rolled from the Friday evening IMMLY medical cannabis benefit at the Frequency Nightclub through Sunday's parade and rally at the Capitol.

Medical cannabis was a frequent topic. Jacki Rickert, namesake of the Wisconsin medical bills and Founder of Is My Medicine Legal YET? (IMMLY) spoke three times over the 3 days of festival events, joined each time by IMMLY & Madison NORML co-founder Gary Storck and Jim Miller, their New Jersey "Medical Cannabis Commando Squad" colleague. Miller fired up the crowd both Saturday on Library Mall and Sunday from the State Capitol steps.

Attendees also heard from Jacki Rickert's Wisconsin "Journey for Justice" colleague Kay Lee. Kay, who joined Jacki on the 1997 210-mile trek from Mondovi to Madison also led other Journeys for Justice in Ohio and Florida and has been a longtime crusader for prisoner's rights.

I noted how several new NORML chapters have sprung up in Wisconsin since the last Harvest Fest. Adding to the statewide Wisconsin NORML, Madison NORML and Northern Wisconsin NORML are new chapters in SE Wisconsin and Eau Claire. Leaders of some of the groups were among those speaking over the festival's two-day run. Tammy Wood, from the tiny village of Kendall, where she is the proprietor of the Wood Pipe Shop and the Founder of a new NORML chapter, delivered an inspiring speech Sunday afternoon. Jay Selthofner of Northern Wisconsin NORML spoke both Saturday and Sunday. A large booth on Library Mall hosted representatives of NWI NORML and other new chapters. River Falls activist Ben Plunkett spoke both days on changes in voting law and registered voters at a booth onsite.

The diversity of support for cannabis law reform supporters was reflected in those who spoke at the event. Jenny420 of the Wisconsin chapter of Moms for Marijuana and Cher Ford-McCullough of Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR) both helped add a female perspective to fighting cannabis prohibition..

Madison NORML board member TA Sedlak, author of Anarcho Grow, talked about the chapter's role in legislative efforts. Bringing a Nebraska voice to the festival was "Farmer Bill" Hawkins. A Nebraska NORML booth provided a welcome sight to the many Huskers fans passing by.

Wisconsin's native population was again represented by the great Ojibwe drummer and singer of sacred songs, Alvin "Goodheart" Baker Jr. Al performed a 4:20 blessing Saturday and blessed the festival both before and after the march.

Dan Goldman immediately followed Baker on the Capitol steps. Goldman, a UW alum and former activist with Students for Sensible Drug Policy at both the campus and national level, returned from his home in New York City to again deliver a powerful and inspiring speech that drew loud applause and cheers.

The music was stellar all weekend, from Brok'n Arrow, Propaganja and Utopian Rag at the Frequency Friday evening through the great music at Library Mall Saturday and Sunday, Mexican Coke, Venice Gas House Trolley, Taki All stars, Groovulous Glove, T.U.G.G., Steez, The Dave Band and Ifdkar, to Nama Rupa on the Capitol steps. After parties at the High Noon Saloon with Natty Nation and Mr. Roberts with Venice Gas House Trolley kept things smoking well into the night on Saturday.

News articles reported no arrests. Arrests have been made as recently as the 2006 parade. That year, the same UW Police officer who had pepper sprayed the late activist Ben Masel as he collected signatures for a US Senate run in June had arrested two men as the parade began. One was later charged with felony distribution for passing a joint to a friend. In 2007, charges were reduced to a ticket but the damage had been done with the widespread publicity the case generated online. Also in 2007, then Dane County DA Brian Blanchard set a new policy that all cases involving less than 25 grams were to be treated as civil infractions as well as all paraphernalia cases.

Excellent weather also blessed the festival with Sunday even nicer than Saturday. An eclectic selection of vendors from Madison's own Amsterdam, an event sponsor to handmade jewelry from Al Baker, to Grow Maxx from Sheboygan, who set up a large display on site added to booths from Students for Sensible Drug Policies (SSDP), Dance Safe, and of course the aforementioned state NORML chapters. Event t-shirts featuring the distinctive Buddy/Herby design were selling like hotcakes to people who deliberately came to Harvest Fest as well as some of the thousands passing through.

Event organizers are already planning for Harvest Fest 42. The dates will be Oct. 6-7, 2012.They report Ngaio Bealum and Al Baker have already committed to returning for HF42.

In a weekend where the main focus was on college sports and the hoopla of a big game, the 41st Annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival further destigmatized the cannabis plant and allowed thousands of people who otherwise might not have been exposed to information about cannabis/hemp to learn things they never knew, like Wisconsin and Nebraska's agricultural hemp economy that once provided a good living to so many in both states nearly a century ago.

Perhaps Al Baker summed it up best in his remarks from the Capitol steps after the parade. "We just had a wonderful experience here where we were allowed to be ourselves and we gave each other a chance to be ourselves. That was respect and we earned that today. And we also need to remember we have to respect those who have accepted the job of protecting us, and those are our law enforcement officers."

Baker continued, before performing a thank you song, noting, "You can't say enough for the City of Madison for what they have gone through this weekend, with all the people here for the Badger game plus be responsible for this group. I think we need to give them a nice round of applause. Great weather, wonderful friendships and company. We felt safe the entire weekend. Where else can we get that kind of fun? Right here in the City of Madison."

Where indeed?