Proclamation
All self recognised Knights Hemplar and Dharma Farmers
are called on a Religious Crusade to Nimbin, home of the Church
of the Holy Smoke, to all meet there on the First Weekend in May,
in the Year Sixteen of our MardiGrass, to participate in all the
Sacred Ceremonies of the Holy Smoke, and smoke the Pipes of Peace.
It is Thirty Nine Years since the Death of Hippie in San
Francisco; followed by the Resurrection of his Spirit in a thousand
smiling faces. That Smile spread through the Sandstone Nations in
a Decade of Optimism. Since then the Fog of Mammon has spread. Still
we perform the Ceremonies and remember the Martyrs imprisoned for
their private observances.
Make your way past the gathering Orcs. Come to the Aquarian
Shrine. Celebrate with Herb and Friends. Pay Homage to the Bountiful
Flowering Fruit, Debate, Discuss, Learn and Socialise. Compete in
the Hemp Olympix or Nimbin Cannabis Cup. March in the Anti Prohibition
Procession. Be peacefully free. Make your mark in the Book of MardiGrass.
Of course, we expect exhemplary behaviour from
our pilgrims. Good heart to you all.
You
can check the weather on the Grafton NSW Rain Radar
You can check the NSW weather on the Infra-red Australian Weather
Sattelite
You
can check the Infra-red Australian Weather Sattelite
Please respect our little peace of Gondwanaland.
Click on the map above for a larger
version.
A
Full Weekend Pass costs $30 and gives
you access to all official activities, including those in Peace
Park and the Nimbin Town Hall . A One
Day Pass for either Saturday or Sunday costs $20.
A Full Weekend and Showground Camping Pass combined
is $50.
The MardiGrass
Organising Body endeavours to keep MardiGrass accessible to everyone,
but we do need YOU to BUY A PASS to cover costs and support the
future of MardiGrass and our efforts for Cannabis Law Reform.
Please be
generous of heart.
If you cannot afford
a pass or just want to contribute to the cause, you can register
as a volunteer at the Hemp Embassy or the Information Booth in front
of the Hall. Four hours and Twenty minutes (4:20) volunteering earns
you a weekend pass.
We need volunteers
from as early as Monday on, so if you want to be part of the preparations,
come early. You do not have to register in advance, just come. Locals
are especially encouraged to volunteer four hours and twenty minutes
to obtain their weekend pass. Register at the Hemp Embassy prior
to the weekend. Volunteers are needed throughout the weekend so
register your interest in the bunker at the back of Embassy.
"Accommodation"
is not provided for volunteers, camping is available at many sites
near the village, a bedroll and sleeping bag are minimum kit. The
nights are starting to get cold at MardiGrass so make sure you bring
warm clothing and whatever else you need in case it rains.
Jobs are varied,
and according to the needs of the moment. They can include fence
and barricade construction, rubbish collection, erecting marquees
and tents, setting up stages, constructing big joints, and anything
else that needs to be done to make MardiGrass happen successfully.
ADDITIONAL NEW CAMPING AVAILABLE
For the first time this
year, the Nimbin Agricultural and Industrial Society (A&I) plan
to open the showground for camping and parking for
the MardiGrass weekend, which is May 3 & 4. The A &
I don’t get the Government grants they used to get and urgently
need funds to maintain the place. They can also help minimise the
impact of so many visitors to the village over the big weekend.
They are offering $20 per head campsites
for the weekend, with toilets and showers, or $5 per day secure
parking for day visitors. Their volunteers will be camped there
for the weekend to keep an eye out, as well as cooking country breakfasts
with bacon and egg rolls a specialty.
It
is now too late to book by sending a $50 money order to the
MOB,(MardiGrass Organising Body),PO Box 177, Nimbin, 2480. $50 secures
you an all weekend entry to MardiGrass and a campsite at the showground.
We will keep a register and when you arrive at the showground your
pass and site will be given to you.
Camping ground opens Thursday. If
you want camping with hot showers arrive early. There will still
be plenty of other camping, but with cold showers or none...
For further information;
Hemp Embassy 0266 891842
NEW MEMBERSHIP DRIVE FOR BRAVER HEMP PARTY
MEMBERS
Please don't join
the HEMP Party unless you are willing to confirm your membership
to AEC officials on the phone. If you are unfindable or unwilling
to confirm membership, don't join, because it stuffs it up for the
rest of us. Sorry, but that's how it works. Give us as many ways
to contact you as possible to make it easier to confirm your membership
with the AEC.
LETS DO IT!
M*U*N*C*H (Monitoring*Unfair*Nimbin*Cannabis*Hype!)
We need licensed non-stoners with
vehicles to be the M*U*N*C*H vehicles, which will patrol the approach
roads to Nimbin making sure police don’t turn people away
from the MardiGrass like they did in 2006, saying “Nimbin
is full, turn around and go home!” and observe police behaviour
generally. Our fleet of M*U*N*C*H vehicles will be monitoring any
unfair Nimbin Cannabis Hype and measuring Omega 3, 6 and 9 levels
to make sure you are a healthy driver with a good singing voice.
Hemp Seedcake, a winner at the last Nimbin Show, will be provided
for those without a glossy coat. Healthy drivers equal better drivers.
Try a Hemp Bar today!
Please
remember to respect this village that allows this festival, and
try to conduct yourself as a true ambassador for HEMP. Do not give
our opponents free ammunition through bad behaviour. The whole world
is watching, possibly when you least expect it.... Be your best
self. Peace.
Please do NOT
block driveways when parking your vehicle!
The Jungle
Patrol, the parking attendants, all the people doing the work
that make it possible, they are all VOLUNTEERS,
so please try to help them to help you.
Chill Out Zones: So
far, Peace Park and Town Hall
ANNUAL AUSSIE GROWERS CUP?
We have a proposal for an annual
grower's cup possibly held late June or early July to allow grower's
a bit of time post harvest to prepare and select their best.
Organic only? Different Categories?
Rules on how to determine categories? What if its organically grown
under lights?
Judging criteria ideas so far include
entries and equivalent guests; minimal weight ten grams, no maximum.
All unused bud returned to grower, all donations gratefully received!
The time and location for a meeting to discuss this idea of an National
Aussie Cup is understandably a bit vague but keep your ears to the
ground at MardiGrass!!
How
To Make Cannabis Legal
http://www.nimbintelevision.com/420-VIDEO.html
We would like as many video-witnesses
as possible to encourage the peace.
NIMBIN MARDIGRASS and CANNABIS LAW
REFORM RALLY
XVI
MAY 3rd & 4th, 2008
Growing aHead!
LIST OF ATTRACTIONS!
Industrial HEMP Expo, Medicinal Cannabis Info, Ganja Faeries,
BIG JOINT, KOMBI KONVOY, “Just Say Know” Forum, Parade
Float Competition, Rainbow Lane Market, Photo and Video Competitions,
local musicians, PotArt Competition, street theatre, live HEMP web-cam,
Dealer Of The Year Award, Cannabis Cup, Pickers Ball, HEMP OLYMPIX
and more!!!
Don't
forget the core event, 2.30pm Sunday - Cannabis Law Reform Rally
and Parade.
Don't miss Dutchies Café (Official Hemp Embassy
Cafe) next to the Stage in Peace Park!
LANTERN WORKSHOP: Graeme
Dunstan will be making a small number of lanterns
to light up the MardiGrass. Help
needed. An hour or two or a day or three. From 10 am Tuesday 28
April. Contact Graeme 0407 951 688. Graeme will
be in the car park next to the Post Office with PeaceBus.
HEMP EXPO includes hempseed meal, hemp plastics
and hemp clothing, hemp cosmetics, hemp oil, hemp paper, hemp bricks,
hemp building products and anything else that is made from the versatile
cannabis plant.
MardiGrass Industrial Hemp Forum - Hemp
paper making, hemp plastic products and hemp-lime building technologies
will be demonstrated during the weekend.
Beyond Prohibition Workshop - Special guests: Dr Alex Wodak
(Director, Alcohol & Drug Service, St Vincent's Hospital), Professor
Paul Wilson (Chair of Criminology, Bond University), Ed Rosenthal
(USA Medical Cannabis Activist), Steve Bolt (Solicitor and author
of a number of publications on drug laws and drug policy).
MardiGrass Market open all weekend, Bubblehash
Demonstration, Seed Swap, Oasis Comedy Café, Cannabis Cup,
Pickers Ball in the Town Hall Friday.
Jamming and Drumming Space outside the NRMA. Join
in the spirit!
Cannabis
Cup Raffle - You must have a ticket, be
there, and have a valid armband in order to be eligible.
NIMBIN CANNABIS ACADEMY OTYAs (Of The Year Awards)
including: Best Dealer (DOTYA), Best Attitude, Best Cannabis Costume,
Best Banner, Best Placard, Best Busker, Best Humour and Best Whatever....
JUNGLE PATROL NEEDS YOU.
First Aid Training will be offered free and locals are encouraged
to be leaders in this field. Jungle Patrol operates from Friday
8am through to early Monday morning and people are urged to sign
up for two four hours shifts .Sign up at the Hemp Embassy or for
further info call Heidi 0266897589. Be warned: the T shirt is pale
pink, with a purple logo. If you are here the Thursday before you
could do Red Cross Save A Mate Training.
Jungle Patrol Orientation Meeting 5:00pm Bowling Club
Thursday 1st May
Ganja
Faeries on Parade
- Aspiring Ganja Faeries need to be in Nimbin the week before MardiGrass
in order to join in learning the dance steps for the Parade Performance.
Ask at the Oasis Cafe. If you cannot, then you can still dress as
a Ganja Faerie and march in the parade, just not dance in the dance
troupe. This year’s parade organisers would love to once again
create two percussion groups for this parade. We envisage one small
group of drummers - the Ganja Faerie Drummers moving with
the Faeries, whilst the Hemp Drummers line the street creating a
guard of percussion and energy. The parade moves through with the
Hemp Drummers falling into the Parade at the end, creating a dynamic
and powerful finale at the end of the parade to keep the energy
up and moving. The Ganja Faeries Drummers who have been working
with the Faeries are already organised but we would love all other
musos and drummers to be part of this other incredible percussion
force.
"Hello Ganja Faeries! Yes, that
means you! If you come to march at the annual MardiGrass Cannabis
Law Reform March and Rally, and you can dance, you’re one
of us!
We’re a bunch of friends who
start getting ready each year around March or April for the MardiGrass,
the first weekend in May. The common thread is green, in all its
shades, in all our styles. Ganja Faeries are all different but the
same. We create dance steps for the grand parade where we can be
a sea of green moving in rhythm to the drums. We sew our costumes
and make them wilder every year.
One week before MardiGrass we hold
a dance workshop where we show all the new ganja faeries the steps
and inspire them to wear costumes. We do it again the day before
the parade (Saturday arvo) to make sure everyone knows which way
to go when. It’s lots of fun but you need to be fit because
on the day it’s a long way to dance and frolic and make lots
of noise from the police station down the hill to Peace Park and
you’ll probably be stoned as well. Water is essential. Dropping
out is not an option. Ganja Faeries go to the end. So come and practice!
Workshops will be held at the Nimbin
Community Centre dance studio the Saturday a week before MardiGrass,
then the Saturday before the parade, in the afternoons. If you are
already in Nimbin rehearsals are held at 5:30pm on Wednesdays. Meet
at the Spangled Drongo restaurant / Oasis café across the
road from the Dance Studio at the north end of town."
MardiGrass
Comedy Club, the traditional night of laughs that will
once again turn the Oasis Café in Nimbin into Humour Central
on both Saturday and Sunday nights as our local funnyman S
Sorrensen leads the charge into the annual investigation
into life, hemp, Nimbin and beyond. (Is there life beyond Nimbin?
Yes. Sort of.)
S will be ably assisted by his comrade in comedy, Alan Glover.
(Alan and S also do the commentary for the Hemp Olympics -
a sporting event to rival the Chinese version. And no Tibetans trying
to put out the torch will be shot.)
Featured comedians this year include Steve Allison
from the Gold Coast, Nick Johns from the land of
the long white cloud and the divine Divishti (from
Venus).
The MardiGrass Comedy Club sets sail for laugh land Saturday and
Sunday nights from 9pm.
Holy Smoke Communion -with Hempseed Balls and
the Goddess of the Church of the HolySmoke.
CWA - Cooking With Attitude, Rainbow Market, Pickers
Ball, Pot Art Exhibition, Pot Art Tattoo Show, Dance for Cannabis
Law Reform.
KOMBI KONVOY -arrives
in Nimbin at 4:20pm on Saturday.
HEMP
OLYMPIX
Sponsored for 2008 by Bringabong
. Bong Throw & Yell - where entrants throw
a bong full of stinking bong water as far as humanly possible whilst
yelling “Free the Weed” or something similar.
Growers Ironperson Event -involves lugging a sack
of fertilizer and buckets of water around the simulated planting
area obstacle course with a tick and leech infested lantana tunnel.
The men’s event is a 40kg sack while the women contend with
an 20kg sack. The top five crawl into the final. A disclaimer must
be signed to compete in this endurance event.
Joint Rolling
The joint must burn from one end to the other. The categories are
as follows:
1. Speed Roll - Roll a standard
three paper joint as fast as you can. The three fastest go into
the finals. Joints must include a cardboard filter, or will be judged
incomplete. If this custom is alien to you, consult a local professional
before the event.
2. Artistic Roll - Roll the most beautiful joint within ten minutes
with as many papers as you like. The three best examples enter the
finals.
3. Roll in the Dark - Athletes are blindfolded.
4. Adverse Conditions Roll - Dependent on weather conditions
on the day and the judges’ creativity.
5. Seed Sorting -You have to get the “seeds” out of
the “mull” faster than anyone else. How fast are you?
You could win a Bling Medal at the HEMP
OLYMPIX!
We've created the world's biggest vapouriser bag, cunningly
disguised as the new lighter meaner more portable Big Joint. Its
in the march this year, and while there is a team working to create
a traditional bamboo and canvas Big Joint, will it be ready in time?
See the new rapid deployment model at this year's MardiGrass.
If you need a Big Joint overnight
.... who you gonna call?
Check out the 2NimFM radio podcast
site at http://nimbinradiomedia.libsyn.com/
This site includes podcasts of many of the 2NimFM radio programs
broadcast during last MardiGrass. They will be recording events
over this MardiGrass and posting new material as it comes in.
While
at MardiGrass, Tune your FM radio to Nimbin's
own NIM FM 102.3,
broadcasting and interviewing live from venues around the village.
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