NORTHAMPTON — A heart-shaped balloon with a green marijuana leaf at its center floated above Extravaganja at the Three County Fairgrounds on Saturday.
The balloon wasn’t the only thing high during the pro-marijuana legalization event, which drew a crowd of roughly 12,000 people — organizers said that was the largest ever in the event’s 25-year history.
“It went really well from our end,” said Delaney Ratner, primary event organizer with the Cannabis Reform Coalition at the University of Massachusetts. “We’re certainly glad we got more space this year.”
The Extravaganja, which boasted 60 vendors, 10 speakers, and six bands, was also the most expensive one to date. Ratner said this year’s event cost about $50,000, which is about double the cost of last year’s Extravaganja.
It moved to the fairgrounds for the first time this year after previously being held on the Amherst Town Common.
“We’ll see how revenue turns out because obviously that could be a hindrance for next year,” Ratner said, adding that renting the fairgrounds, stage and sound equipment, and paying officials to staff the event were among the biggest expenses. “We needed the space but the costs are significant.”
Ratner said any revenues from parking and merchandise would go toward funding Extravaganja 2017.
Police reported one arrest, about a half dozen people were taken to Cooley Dickinson Hospital and traffic at times was severely backed up on Route 9 Saturday afternoon.
Speakers included Dick “Mr. Marijuana” Evans, medical marijuana consultant Ezra Parzybok and defense attorney Marvin Cable. The Alchemystics graced the stage, as well as Shokazoba and Llama Lasagne, a conglomeration of about a dozen local bands.
Kyle Thoma, 23, of Easthampton, said Saturday’s Extravaganja was better than last year’s.
“The last Extravaganja I didn’t care for, ” he said, citing lack of space and vibe. “I like today better.”
The event, however, was not completely without incident.
A fight inside the event’s food court resulted in one arrest on a charge of armed robbery, police said.
Elvis Malave, 27, of Springfield allegedly stole more than $1,500 in cash, three gold chains and other items from another man.
And emergency medical technicians fielded about a dozen medical issues, mostly involving dizziness and dehydration. A supervisor at Cooley Dickinson Hospital confirmed that six or seven people who came from the event were treated, though none of the medical issues was serious.
The event also congested traffic along Route 9 into Hadley, starting in the early afternoon and lasting into the evening.
Residents of Fair Street were able to turn any inconveniences of the day into profit by charging for things like cookies and parking.
“For the amount of people, they were very well-behaved,” said Fred Pirog, a homeowner on Fair Street who charged for parking on his lawn.
Some neighbors said that while some guests were annoying, they were generally pleased with the results.
“There’s been a bunch of douchey white guys, but that’s normal,” said Abeer Khatana, 22, who rents a room in a house on Fair Street. She said she and her roommates allowed parking at the house and charged $5 per vehicle. “People have been respectful.”
Bruce Shallcross, general manager of the fairgrounds, agreed that the day was mostly a success.
“It was relatively quiet,” he said. “Not too many incidents — it wasn’t even as bad as a (Three County) Fair day.”
Shallcross said he was impressed by the amount of business the food vendors saw.
“I’m surprised they ate that much in that short a time,” he said. “I guess you get the munchies when you do that stuff.”
Though there was no shortage of customers at doughnut carts and French fry vendors, grape was the flavor of the day.
“It’s dope,” remarked Devon Turner, 19, a UMass student.
“No pun intended,” said his friend Henry Brechter with a laugh, passing along a grape-flavored blunt. “Make sure you say we were smoking good s.”
Alex Garcia, 28, of Holyoke said he came to Extravaganja Saturday with his friend and cousin for the first time after reading about it on Facebook. As the three waited in line in front of Pizza to the People, they passed around a packed bowl and a grape-flavored blunt.
The Northampton location drew revelers from around the region.
“We like weed,” said Alyssa Goodwin, 20, of Pittsfield, who made the drive with her girlfriend and cousin. “We support it.”
“We’d never been to one before,” said Goodwin’s girlfriend, Brandi Packard, 22. “We wanted to check it out.”
Many on Saturday cited their affection for marijuana as reasons for attending.
“I love weed,” said Dayzhan Kelly, 21, of Springfield, adding that legalization is in the air. “This is where it all starts.”
Mandy Pachios of the Mary Jane Jones celebrated the plant that gave her band its name, belting it out onstage as part of Llama Lasagne. People in the crowd passed around a joint to the whomp of the bass in the tune, “Everybody Must Get Stoned.”
“I only sing songs with words I believe in,” Pachios said after the set. “It’s a fun project — it’s the healing of a nation.”
Another singer and Llama Lasagne collaborator, Evan Curran, said Saturday’s proceedings were the best yet.
“This is next-level,” he said, adding that he’s happy to see the crowd take a turn from being primarily composed of young, white college students. “It seems a bit more diverse than previous years.”
At least one person, however, felt the move from Amherst to Northampton wasn’t a good one, because there were searches at the gates, conducted by Cannabis Reform Coalition-hired security guards.
He said he saw police officers searching belongings, which he considers discriminatory against medical marijuana patients, activists and the poor.
“It’s discriminatory against all of those groups,” said Norman Bie, 60, of Amherst, adding that he saw people leaving once they realized searches were happening, and that he chose not to attend.
Shallcross said such searches are mandatory for any large events held at the fairgrounds.
Ratner said there were no police officers conducting searches to her knowledge, but she understands how security guards hired by the coalition — with their uniforms and walkie-talkies — could easily be confused with police officers.
“That was kind of the reason we got private security, because officers were saying they’d have to take anything illegal,” she said.
Ezra Parzybok — the medical marijuana consultant who faced distribution charges in November, for which he received probation and saw his plants confiscated — encouraged the crowd to plant seeds everywhere possible, including in the window boxes of City Hall.
“Each plant can inspire ideas, and we shouldn’t keep good ideas to ourselves,” Parzybok said. “We need to let people see that the living cannabis plant isn’t dangerous.”
Amanda Drane can be reached at adrane@gazettenet.com.