High Times and their events are having a rough go of it lately. The all-things-weed publication had to withdraw from Washington and Oregon last year after failing to secure locations for their Cannabis Cup events. And amid complaints, their annual 4/20 party had to move to a new location in Colorado. You might be wondering: When will the long-running pot magazine be able to hold an event with thousands of revelers consuming cannabis openly in Oregon?
They did already, nearly 20 years ago. And I was there.
The event was called WHEE: World Hemp Expo Extravaganja. Let this serve as proof that stupid, weed-themed wordplay did not begin when legalization occurred.
High Times produced this gathering, which was held on a private 30-acre parcel of land owned by Bill Conde in Harrisburg, Oregon—15 miles from Eugene. The event ran July 18-20, 1997, and nearly 20,000 folks attended. If you guessed there was tie-dye, chillums, and converted school buses, you are so right. Sadly, I was rocking all three.
There were some great speakers—Dennis Peron, Jack Herer, Ken Kesey, Paul Krassner, and John Trudell. The music included Fishbone, Super Sonic Soul Pimps, String Cheese Incident, and old-school Portland rockers Calobo, along with many others. It was hot and dusty, and everywhere you went, dazed and sweaty people were smoking nonstop, freely and openly.
Perhaps too freely. I repeatedly had to deal with food vendors who had gotten so high they forgot to turn on their cooking equipment. “Oh wow, man, that’s on me,” said one not-at-all-lost-just-wandering food booth operator when I pointed out he had handed me a frozen-solid burrito. “It’s gonna take a couple of hours for the solar stove to heat up. Do you want to bring that back then?” No thanks, this refried bean popsicle should be just fine, Woodstock.
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