The crowd gathers
As I drove through the business district of Boulder, Colorado I noticed that the sidewalks were packed. Bars had long lines and restaurants were shoulder-to-shoulder. Boulder is the home of the University of Colorado, but all of these students were out on a Monday!? Every ten feet a student would dart from the sidewalk across the street bringing traffic to a standstill. The crowds were weird, but I knew why… it was five days after tax day. The infamous ’420′.
The tradition of 420 has a few rumors surrounding its origin. Some say the tradition started as a police code in Los Angeles and others claim there are 420 chemicals in marijuana. However, the ‘experts’ claim that the tradition was started by a group of High School students in California[1][2]. This ‘special’ day at CU Boulder started in the 1990s. It started as a very small gathering and has since grown to over an estimated ten thousand participants[2].
Local News Covers the Event
Walking into Norlin Quad at CU Boulder I was suddenly hit with this sight of thousands of people, a unique smell and some interesting costumes. I was approached by a lady in her mid 40′s sporting a sundress and dreadlocks. She stuck her head into my personal space and said, “Happy Holiday!” then danced away in an informal gavotte. Another lady wore a self-manufactured costume with a soap filled backpack. Bellows were connected to her feet, so with each step the contraption would spray bubbles out of a nozzle on her head. The soap ran down her face and appeared rather uncomfortable, but she appeared to be proud of her homemade gadget. With all of the funny costumes it seemed more like Halloween then a day to promote the use of an illegal drug. It sure felt like a holiday.
Joining a fraternity anyone? Lolz!
I was surprised by the good demeanor of the crowd. It was a quite and well behaved crowd, probably for a good reason. They also did not make much of a mess. I walked back through the quad an hour after the gathering and I found a few ‘students’(I am sure many weren’t students) with trash bags picking up trash. After receiving over a foot of snow the Saturday prior, I was also surprised to find no mud in the quad after the event. The ground was so soggy that water would seep from the ground and onto my sandals with each step. Somehow everyone was delicate enough not to tear up the grass.
The future of the event? I think the ‘holiday’ will last until it grows a little out of hand. April 20th at Boulder will probably end like the summer of love. Eventually the event will attract a larger and more rowdy(aka drunk) crowd to the point where authorities no longer feel in control of the gathering. Or… maybe not? Regardless, enjoy the pictures and the spectacle of it all.
Police monitor the event.
After the event... relatively clean!