After the Chicken played, some excellent speakers took the stage, all
nicely introduced by the Woodnymph (Carol Jo Papac). Chris Conrad got
the crowd chanting, Mikki Norris, Chris's wife, spoke movingly about pot
prisoners and equal rights for cannabis consumers, Dave Ford lit up
on stage, Ram Dass was an unexpected surprise and also led a slow
marijuana chant, Rasta comic Ngaio Bealum amused the crowd with
some pot-laced humor, supervisor Tom Ammiano spoke about how the
city council favors legalizing marijuana for adult use and later proudly
displayed a Drug Peace Campaign button, and even I briefly took the stage
to introduce the event and read the Drug Peace Campaign's Mission
Statement calling for an end to the war on drugs.

The Pot Pride Parade began after a rousing musical performance by Fantuzzi
and Clan Dyken featuring 'Hemp Hemp Hurray!', followed by a mellower set
by the Toyes who played their hit 'Smoke Two Joints' as 4:20 came and went.
The parade started soon afterwards as people gathered with signs, banners
and drums to move out of UN Plaza.

Our parade route went up Market, past the old Cannabis Buyers Club with its
big gold Marijuana leaf still painted on the window. We then turned right
onto Van Ness, marched past City Hall to McAllister then back to UN Plaza
via Hyde. While marching we chanted slogans like: 'We're here, we're high,
get used to it!', 'We smoke pot and we like it a lot', 'Get wise,
Legalize!', and sung 'All we are saying is give Pot Peace a chance' and
'We will, we will, smoke pot' (to the tune of Queen's We will Rock You) as
drummers played, signs swayed and banners flapped in the wind. The parade
was great fun and we had lots of supportive cheers and honks from passing
drivers as we marched on the sidewalk.

Am very happy to report that the peace officers at the event were mellow and
helpful. Thankfully, not one person was arrested for smoking pot at the
orders of the police captain herself, who personally attended the event and
even joined the march. Her officers were polite and helped stop traffic so
that the march could cross the streets. It was a pleasure to work with them
and they were quite impressed at how peaceful our attendees were.

BTW, it was a bit difficult to keep track of everything that was going on
since an organizer's attention is often kept busy dealing with urgent
matters like misplaced port-a-potties, missing stage legs, people needing
directions, performers who want to speak or play pot songs, press etc....
So would really love to hear stories about the event from other folks who
were there.

Also really wish to thank all of the volunteers who helped publicise and
organize the event, brought equipment, worked on security, staffed the
concessions, helped with setup and cleanup, and took care of little Sasha
while his mom was busy running around dealing with emergencies.
You were all great! :) xoxoxo

Highest regards,

Julia

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