Facing another gorgeous spring here in EC, I find myself and most of my friends getting ready for this year's annual Hempfest, held at Rod and Gun Park on May 1st. At the beginning of this, my last year of school, I realized that this is to be the 10th Anniversary of UWEC's own personal Hempfest, and that meant we would have to bust out the big guns and do it right. Planning this 10 band, 10 hour festival hasn't been a cake walk. Believe me, you can ask anyone who has organized events before; event planning is easier said than done...much easier!

Let's begin with the new fees that the City of EC has instituted. Unlike years before, we now have to pay the EC Police Department for:

• Having amplified music
• Having alcohol at the park at all
• Having police present, so that beer can be sold
• Payment for a beer license

In the past, Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) has had to pay for having alcohol at the park, and pay for our beer license. But we have never had to pay for police services in the past, until this year when we had to pay $400 for police! Mind you that SSDP is a non-profit organization with very little money, so $400 is a great deal of money for us. And the $12.50 live music fee is just plain ridiculous--what could $12.50 pay for?

Now don't get me wrong; I can understand that taxpayers don't wish to pay for police protection for any gathering of people for a specific reason, but $400 is enough to drive anyone away. As matter of fact, the Earth Day Festival had to be cancelled for this very reason. They couldn't afford it due to new fees enacted by the City of Eau Claire.

A matter that this time of year brings about is the fact that this is indeed a festival dedicated to celebrating the hemp plant. This is not about marijuana, people!! This is about a way we can start fixing what we have done to the planet. The fact that people cannot take this subject seriously is ignorant if you ask me. Hempfest was started to be an informative day full of music, good people, and activism.

Hemp is one of the largest cash crops in existence. The average fiber in a Douglass Redwood is around 3 inches in length; meanwhile the average fiber in a hemp plant is 3 feet or longer! You can obtain more pulp for paper from 1 acre of hemp than you can from 10 acres of trees...and when making paper from hemp, you don't need an array of chemicals to treat and prep the fiber. Hemp is used for fuels, textiles, oils, canvas, clothing, it helps to prevent soil erosion, and can be made as fine as a lace doily. It is truly renewable, unlike timber and fossil fuels; you can grow a full new field of hemp in 3 months, unlike an old growth forest which takes hundreds of years.

The speakers at this year's festival will be just as great as the 10 hours of live music. Ben Masel, organizer of Harvest Fest and Weedstock from Madison, will be speaking about his experiences in working to legalize hemp. Dr. Dave West will also be in attendance, who recently lived in Hawaii legally growing hemp until the government failed to renew his license and his operation was shut down. We will also have candidates for State Assembly and Congress present to meet, greet, and speak about their platforms.

The musical line-up for this year's Hempfest is one of the finest ever! We have bands from all over the state, as well as from North Dakota and Minnesota. Be sure to stick around after sundown for the lightshow, a Hempfest first! With music provided by Carlo Posse, Leftovers, Jeff White, Legend of Duluoz, Destine Records, Bad Mojo, Down Lo, Groovulous Glove, Bed, and Day Old Bread. We have music ranging from folk music, hip-hop, reggae, jazz, and good ol' funky jam bands. There will be something to tickle the ear of nearly anyone who attends, unless you are looking for Gwar, and then this may not be the place to go.

If you have never attended a Hempfest before, trust me, you will not be disappointed. There will be people selling handmade jewelry, people making clothing, people dancing, people hanging out with their friends, people enjoying the beautiful park...no matter who is there, they are there to join SSDP and everyone else in celebrating hemp, a gift from Mother Earth!

Details Available At: www.autumngroove.com