The fact that Moscow Hempfest falls on Moms Weekend every year just might be a good thing.
amrah canul | rawr Alex Buck, left, and Laurali Calvert, from Jupiter Jane Traveling Café, serve up orders and make lemonade at Moscow Hemp Fest 2012. This year was Jupiter Jane's sophomore effort at the festival.
Being able to attend Hempfest with her mom is Jade Crester-Evans’ favorite part about the festival.
“(My mom is) and old hippie and she’s very into, not necessarily drugs themselves, but the hemp products,” Evans said. “And to be able to use hemp for clothing and other things that we don’t normally think about.”
While at Hempfest, Evans purchased a pair of crocheted hemp earrings from a booth ran by students from the University of Idaho.
At the booth they were selling crocheted bags, earrings and even clothing made from hemp, which were personally made by the vendors of the booth.
“I go to Hempfest with my mom because it’s more about the actual hemp itself–not marijuana–and actually trying to support growing hemp instead of cotton, etcetera, because it is such a versatile product,” she said.
Evans said she doesn’t think the government realizes how useful of a product hemp is because they have the wrong idea about it.
Cameron Olson, junior, said he thinks Hempfest is a good thing because there is so much negative connotation toward marijuana and hemp.
Once Olson looked deeper into the vendors for information, he realized how educated each one is about the issue of using hemp over other materials.
“(Using hemp is) almost cheaper than making stuff out of cotton and making paper out of trees,” Olson said.
Since 2006, Arlene Falcon has been in charge of organizing Moscow Hempfest.
Before that, Falcon said different students from the UI campus ran the event.
“As a vender who was always attending it, I always look forward to it happening,” Falcon said. “Being passionate about what the Hempfest stands for, and as an experienced vender it goes to show that it was a good fit. I’m personally very passionate about the issue.”
The purpose of Hempfest is to educate and inform people on topics relating to industrial hemp and medical marijuana. Education is the most important part of it, Falcon said. There is a lot of misinformation about the festival, which she finds as a great opportunity to teach people.
Falcon’s favorite part about Hempfest is seeing the community get together, smiles and all.
“The people who attend enjoy it, and it’s a win-win all around. We were really lucky to have such great weather this year,” Falcon said. “And even if we don’t have good weather we still have a great time.”
In the past few years, Falcon has tried to make Hempfest more action and politically-oriented, not just to serve as an event for people to go to.
“A lot of the people who do attend it, both as vendors or as participants are interested in the what the message is about,” she said. “There are a lot of us who believe in ending prohibition.”
Molly Spencer can be reached at [email protected]