"Hempfest opens Seattle store and office"

Casey McNerthney, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF:

When the doors to Hempfest Central officially opened at 1 p.m. Friday, there were more more than a dozen people in line at what previously had been a vacant Lake City storefront. The day before, as supporters turned out for a soft opening, the store did more than $2,000 in business. When Vivian McPeak and friends organized the first Hempfest in 1991, he never thought in a million years it would become as big as it is today -- with an office and retail store to promote hemp-based products and such pro-pot accoutrements as pipes and bongs. It all goes to support the continued existence of the three-day summer festival for which Hempfest is best known, the world's largest cannabis-law reform rally, which began in 1991 with 500 attendees under a different name. "Maybe I would have paced myself if I had known it would be a 22-year experience," McPeak said with a laugh. MORE...