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The 1st annual New England Canna Carnival erupted out into the skies over Harmony, Maine with a dazzling fireworks display this Independence day to kick off four days of music, food and cannabis related competitions. Headlining the event was none other than the iconic Afroman, whose weed-smoking anthem, “Because I got high,” enthralled a generation of pot smokers and even achieved mainstream success. The festival, the first of its kind from freshman promoters GCR entertainment has actually been evolving over the last few years as an semi-organized gathering of like-minded people who gather under the glimmering Maine nighttime stars to listen to live music and share insights into cultivating and smoking their favorite plant; Cannabis. Arriving to the festival we were amazed how it seemed to “pop out of nowhere” yet it was remarkably easy to find the fairgrounds. Entering the park a large sign designated the location, “Freedom Field,” but I had no idea just how free freedom field really was. After clearing the front gate, we set about making our camp for the weekend. Unsure of the lay of the land and not knowing anyone or having any available contact to speak to, we just found an open area with a few sporadic tents and set to putting up our cheap $30 Wal-Mart special. Looking over the “neighborhood” I couldn’t help but notice that every single person seemed to have the exact same tent as me. Thinking little of it we put up our tent in a row of identical ones. Leaving a marker on
Canna Carnival delivers first of it’s kind in grand fashion
Phill Andrews
the pole so we would know it’s ours. “Did you actually bring that tent?” a thin, mid-thirties woman asked us as she approached with a smile. “…umm yeah,” I replied, surprised by her strange query. “It seems to be a popular model,” I said motioning to the Pleasantville of identical tents in a row.The woman laughed, “That’s because all of these tents were brought by the promoters, in case someone needed a place to sleep and forgot theirs.” Dumbfounded, I looked down the row realizing in hind sight it was so much more obvious that that was the case. Still, I’ve never heard of this practice. I’ve seen drunken hippies passed out in the middle of a field with little more than a hat pulled over their eyes so many times at festivals that I considered it part of the standard decorum. I believe the tents were a very thoughtful amenity and one that I had wished I had planned for, we did see people intermittently use the tents, and even pull a circle of them together around a nighttime fire. However, as surprised as I was to have free tents to sleep in, nothing could of prepared me for the festival itself; a dazzling cornucopia of the freshest, stickiest, smelliest chronic this side of Boulder. Yes let me be clear, good weed was EVERYWHERE. Let me be frank about something here; I have never seen anything like this in New England before. Sure, festivals are breeding
grounds for people smoking and selling good weed, they always have been. But never sanctioned like this. The vendor areas were a horse-shoe shaped row of semi-permanent structures with roofs and even electricity available, but it was their display of high-powered cannabis strains from all across the area that blew my mind. With the exception of a couple standard fare food vendors, everything was “medical” marijuana friendly. I counted 4 or 5 vendors that were just there to sell weed. A few were just a couple of friendly looking hippies sitting behind massive jars of bright green chronic, while others were a bit more organized, with banners, brightly colored signs designating all the available strains and prices and even smoking lounges, with comfy leather chairs and cooling fans to kick back and relax while taking a toke. Other vendors sold seeds, one guy was out there selling LED lights for your grow room, but my favorite vendor of the weekend was out there selling medicated edibles. When in Maine, do as the Maineacs do I suppose, but it really did not take much coaxing to begin a virtual