National Cannabis Festival Celebrates, Educates Despite Storms

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While April 20 (420) is widely known as a national weed holiday, the National Cannabis Festival dedicated much of last week to not only celebrating cannabis culture, but also advocating for more reform.  Despite torrential downpours, pausing Saturday’s staple festivities and performances at The Fields at RFK Campus in northeast D.C., the National Cannabis Festival brought together thousands to commemorate progress, equity and the bravery of cannabis advocates. 

“I think if folks are following the history of cannabis prohibition and cannabis legalization, what we’ve seen in the past decade, from these incredible advocates, has been nothing short of remarkable. We’ve moved from a world where cannabis was considered taboo, folks would lose jobs, folks were going to jail, losing lives over it, to a world where people can actually come out of college and find careers in this industry, and that is just incredible,” said Caroline Phillips, founder and executive director of the National Cannabis Festival. 

“With the festival we know it’s important to talk about the fun things like Juicy J and 2 Chainz headlining, but this is also such a great opportunity to educate our community, to highlight the works of these advocates, and to make sure people out there in the general public know how they can get behind organizations who are working for their best interests,” Phillips continued.

Held on Earth Day, the festival  was set to bring out hundreds of vendors and performances from the likes of Backyard Band, Everyday Everybody, Nkula, Cumbia Heights, Foots x Coles, DJ Farrah Flosscett and headliners Free Nationals, Juicy J and 2 Chainz.  The storms temporarily paused some of the celebrations and festivities from about 2:05 p.m. to when doors opened again at 8 p.m.

“The rain delays and such were a little tough to work through, but not bad at all,” said VIP and Artist Lounge Manager Joe Cervasio.

“Bumps come with anything that you do, so it’s a matter of adapting and overcoming, and that’s what we were able to do,” VIP Host and Manager Jeremy Hawkins emphasized. “We have a phenomenal team that’s been able to see the problems, attack them and make them go away as quickly as possible.”

Once doors reopened, vendors were back, the performances from Free Nationals, Juicy J and 2 Chainz were on and popping, and RKF Campus was filled with festival attendees ready to party with a purpose.

“It’s actually an amazing experience to be a part of this, especially in D.C., to see how far we’ve come within the cannabis community,” Hawkins said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for us to see the growth, the acceptance that cannabis has had within the country.  Look at the film ‘Reefer Madness,’ you go from that to what we’re doing now, it’s a beautiful thing to see, and I can’t wait to see what else we can do in the next 20 years, especially for the next generation.”

As the night came to a close, Hawkins summed up the festival’s vibe.

“It’s just beautiful. It feels like Black Woodstock in here. I can’t wait to see it year after year.”