Annual Denver 4/20 festival will not be held on April 20
Organizers for the seventh annual rally that draws tens of thousands of people to celebrate marijuana are unable to host the event on Mon., April 20 this year because of new regulations for city parks that will not allow a three-day event. The event instead will be held on the Saturday and Sunday before the worldwide "weed day."
BY
Joel Landau
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, January 21, 2015, 11:35
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Brennan Linsley/APPartygoers listen to live music and smoke pot on the second of two days at the annual 4/20 marijuana festival in Denver in 2014.This year's event will not take place on April 20.
This year's annual 4/20 fest in Denver has gone to pot.
Organizers for the annual pro-marijuana celebration in Colorado will not be able to stage their rally on April 20 - the date many tokers celebrate as "weed day" around the world - because of new regulations for events in public parks,
according to the Denver Post.
The Civic Center in Denver has been the site of the event since it started seven years ago and the main attraction is a smoke out by the thousands in attendance at 4:20 p.m. on that day.
But the newspaper reports that new rules will prohibit the group to host the festival this year on April 20 since it's a Monday. Festivities will be held on the Saturday and Sunday beforehand, the newspaper reports.
Colorado legalized marijuana last year but the city did institute a new law that prohibits groups from expanding the number of days for previous events this year. The topic is still a controversial issue among politicians, but the rally organizers said it's important to celebrate the smokers' new freedoms.
No state celebrates 4/20 bigger than Colorado, with the city rally and the fact that it's legal.
Lead organizer Miguel Lopez told the newspaper he requested a permit to expand the festival into Monday but it was denied. He could have changed the two-day festival to Sunday and Monday, but felt losing Saturday would hurt attendance and business for the vendors.
Officials told the newspaper they still expect a large crowd to show up on the true date of the pot-smoking holiday, but fences and security checkpoints will be removed by that point.
"Obviously, we expect plenty of people to come down anyway (despite the lack of a sanctioned event),"
Denver Police Department spokesman Sonny Jackson told the newspaper.
The department will have officers at the location to primarily focus of maintaining safety, Jackson said.
Brennan Linsley/AP
A permit to extend the festival to Mon., April 20 was denied.
Brennan Linsley/AP
It is expected that smokers will still turn out on Mon., April 20 to commemmorate the big day.
Brennan Linsley/AP
The event attracts tens of thousands of revelers.
The Cannabis Cup, sponsored by High Times magazine, which will feature Snoop Dogg as the headliner, is expanding its festival to three days to include Saturday, but that's because it is being held at a public park.
"It's really the 4/20 we're staying around to celebrate,"
High Times editor Dan Skye told The Cannabist. "No state celebrates 4/20 bigger than Colorado, with the city rally and the fact that it's legal. Every city with a pot shop has some sort of a celebration, and we want to stick around and be a part of it."
The 4/20 organizers told the Denver Post they are considering holding a rally at the capitol building instead on 4:20 p.m. that Monday.
jlandau@nydailynews.com
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