Extravaganja 2015

Downtown Amherst 2:00 PM

The 24th running of the pot rally on the Amherst Town Common went off without a hitch, other than the normal traffic congestion you would expect for such a sizable crowd -- the likes of which Amherst all too seldom sees. 

Like last year's disastrous Blarney Blowout, great weather was a major contributing factor.

To compare the two public events is nothing short of astounding:  Blarney Blowout 2014, with 4,000 participants, had 58 arrests and many thousands of dollars in property damage.

Extravaganja 2015 had more than half again as many participants with zero arrests and zero property damage.

Almost from the start time of high noon the Town Common was packed to capacity.  The Amherst Farmers Market also debuted today so that too contributed congestion in the morning.

Extravaganja 5:30 PM

Downtown food service businesses and our two local tow truck companies certainly had a field day.

Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone recently announced this would be the last year he would sign off on the (free) permit required for Extravaganja to use the Town Common.

 Town Common Sunday morning.  Looks like they were never even there

So it will be interesting to see what becomes of this annual political rally that, unlike so many other liberal causes, actually made a difference.

Town Common day before Extravaganja

Pumpkin Fest Goes PFFT

Keene State Pumpkin Fest riots October, 2014

The world -- or at least regionally -- famous Keene New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival will not live to see its 25th year.  Killed off by the international bad press generated by riots that broke out last year strikingly reminiscent of our own Blarney Blowout.

Although in our case BB was not attached to any particular Town or University sponsored event, as it was simply a juvenile promotion conjured up by downtown bars to stimulate business.  Ending up with a little more stimulation than they wished for.

But if Blarney had been associated with a legitimate event, the tragedy that just occurred in Keene's City Council chambers would be sort of like our Select Board pulling the permit for the Taste of Amherst or -- God forbid --  the celebratory pot festival, Extravaganja. 

According to the only Keene City Councilor (out of 14) who opposed denying the permit:  “We’ll be known as the city of the pumpkin festival riot. Keene State College will be remembered as the college that killed off the Pumpkin Festival.”

Yikes!  Can you imagine if UMass became known as the college that killed off Extravaganja?

Let this be a lesson boys and girls:  the misdeeds of the very few can significantly impact the reputations of the very many.

Hopefully our college aged youth will remember that over next four weekends leading up to graduations.  

I wonder if they will hire Mr. Davis to do a study

Where There's Smoke

Extravaganja 2013 attracted typical crowd of 6,000 fans to the Amherst Town Common

Now I know it's Spring!  The preliminary paperwork for the town common pot rally is in the pipeline.  Or maybe I should say bong line. 

The Amherst Select Board will discuss parking approvals Monday night for the 24th annual Extravaganja festival coming this April 18th to a bucolic town green near you.

The event is promoted by the UMass Amherst Cannabis Reform Coalition and every year manages to attract many thousands of aficionados to Amherst town center for an afternoon of live music, food, and camaraderie all punctuated by the pungent fragrance of pot.

Some of the original adherents from two decades ago have probably gone on to high profile positions in the state legislature, paving the way to legalization in the next year or two.

Considering the awful toll legally ubiquitous alcohol wreaks on our little "college town", perhaps not such a bad thing.

The pot rally coexists with the Amherst Farmers Market

The Taste & Price Of Safety

 Taste of Amherst (always late  June) 2014

The Taste of Amherst, that downtown summer institution that brings bliss to Valley foodies and our local restaurant industry, will get a tad safer if Amherst Town Meeting approves DPW Chief Guilford Mooring's $20,000 capital request for Park Replacement Equipment.  As will that other major event, Extravaganja.

Technically the historic Amherst town common is a park.

And the current electrical system becomes a spider web of potentially dangerous cords anytime there's a major function. Because some of those major events attract thousands of visitors, a shocking incident is always a possibility.

The $12,000 worth of Spider Boxes will not only organize all the temporary wiring to help reduce tripping over them, but also brings important ground fault circuit interrupter protection, which comes in handy on rainy days.

The Merry Maple "holiday" tree on the town common was knocked out a couple times last December due to a combination of faulty wiring and rainy weather.

Merry Maple will be insulated against  power outages

The FY16 budget does not commence until July 1st -- a tad too late for this year's Taste of Amherst.

Guilford Mooring pitching to the Joint Capital Planning Committee 2/5/15

But Mr. Mooring is hoping to get the Business Improvement District and Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce to front the money to buy the spider boxes as soon as possible, and then reimburse them out of his FY16 budget, assuming Town Meeting approves the $20,000 capital item.

Natural High

Extravaganja 5:45 PM 

UPDATE Sunday afternoon:


According to APD Chief Scott Livingstone there were only three arrests directly related to Extravaganja on the Amherst town common, and then another NINE later in the day/overnight due to the usual college town rowdiness, where alcohol played the dominant role.

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 And So It Ends, peacefully.  

Organizer Terry Franklin took to the microphone at 5:45 p.m. and announced the close of the 23rd annual Extravaganja, requesting each participant take out whatever trash they may have brought in or created while on the town common.

 

APD kept a perimeter around the town common

Arrests, there were a few.  Very few.  But more medical transports than arrests, with some of them particularly disconcerting because they involved under aged females.

 AFD ambulance en route for a 14-year-old girl who passed out on the town common

But all in all, a successful event.  

Of course with nightfall the emphasis switches from pot to alcohol, so all bets are off for a peaceful ending to this gorgeous weekend.

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Mid Afternoon Update

3:00 p.m. Town Common has hit full capacity

 APD arrests two, female driver for OUI drugs, 2:45 p.m. Rt 9 heading to town center

AFD ambulance A2 transporting two patients from downtown Amherst, one of them a 14 year old girl.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) April 12, 2014

 NOON update: 

Extravaganja high noon 

 AFD Central Station 11:55 a.m.

Extravaganja food carts will be doing a brisk business

 Original post: early this morning

 

Amherst Town Common 8:30 a.m.

Well it looks as though the weather is going to be nothing if not perfect for an outdoor event.  Thank goodness we're talking Extravaganja rather than Blarney Blowout!

But throw in Spring Concert at UMass and rumors of a Hobart Hoedown today or tomorrow and you have a recipe for disaster.  Maybe Ed Davis should have scheduled his visit to UMass/Amherst for a couple days earlier ...

  Noon yesterday 

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Extravaganja 2013 attracted around 6,000 fans to the Amherst Town Common

The largest public venue in the little college town of Amherst -- the quaint town green -- will once again play host to Extravaganja, a celebration of all things pot.  And these days, with the herb now practically legal, there's plenty for them to celebrate.

Interestingly, the loss of that cachet that comes with doing something illegal seems not to have hurt attendance any, as last year they had about the same peak attendance (the entire common being shoulder to shoulder) as at any time over the past 23 years.

UMass Cannabis Reform Coalition Treasurer Delany Ratner tells me the budget for this year's event is around $7,500 (renting stage and sound system, port-a-potties, garbage dumpster, printing t-shirts) so they get a lot of bang for their buck.

One thing they don't spend money on is advertising simply because there's no need.  Word of mouth and social media seem to to the trick.

While Amherst Police will be out in force on Saturday as they always are for an event that attracts such a large crowd, there really is little to no disruptive behavior.  Unlike the Blarney Blowout, which attracts somewhat less of a crowd but requires police dressed in riot gear to bring under control.

Rumor has it the "Hobart Hoedown" 2014 has been scheduled for Saturday as well, probably on purpose to coincide with Extravaganja, figuring the police will be preoccupied in town center so they can raise all sorts of hell in far flung North Amherst.

At the height of the Blarney Blowout last year (nowhere near as bad as this year) nitwits at Townhouse apartments made false 911 emergency calls claiming assaults with weapons were taking place in South Amherst to try to distract police away from their pernicious party.

It didn't work.

A major variable impacting attendance (at either event) is weather, and Saturday is suppose to be somewhat rainy.   So that could put a damper on things. 

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Amherst Center High

 

Extravaganja #22!

UPDATE Sunday morning

While the UMass Amherst Cannabis Reform Coalition is always good about cleaning up after the pot festival -- way more so than the average Amherst Party House revelers -- I'm still concerned about the damage inflicted on the historic Amherst Town Common.

 Wet conditions and heavy equipment do not mix

If the CRC can pay for trash removal why not for reseeding the common? 

 

 Mud Wresting anyone?

Must have been something I ate 

How brown was my Valley

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UPDATE 5:30 PM (event day)

 

5:10 PM Triangle and North Pleasant near Bertucci's

Off to jail

The downtown is more crowded now than it was for the Block Party last fall when the roads were shut off to vehicular traffic for the event.  

Dispatch received an "erratic operator" report from another driver for a car "all over the road" and "throwing beer bottles out the window," all within spitting distance of our jam packed town center.

He was pulled over, a Field Sobriety Test carefully administered, and he flunked.  His hands were then cuffed behind his back, his fancy car towed, and he will spend the rest of the night in jail.

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Probably not the kind of event the Amherst Business Improvement District will ever considering helping to sponsor but there's no doubt the Extravaganja pot festival brings thousands and thousands of consumers into downtown Amherst.

Although in this particular case, the product they are most interested in consuming is still illegal.

Ch 40 engages in a bit of hyperbole (the clouds really are, you know, clouds)

 

 Antonio's is doing a brisk business

Amherst Police break out the Personal Transport Vehicle

Traffic is snarled heading into town center

A Day of Reckoning?

Sunday morning epilogue: AFD transported four intoxicated individuals to CDH last night including one naked male and treated at the scene (Mullins Center) fourteen total. A week ago Thursday totals were far worse: 24 treated, 14 transported.

The centre held...this time.  

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Original Post (All day/night Saturday reverse chronological order):

11:15 PM  AFD responding to UMass Washington high rise dorm for ETOH female

10:22 PM AFD sending ambulance to Mullins Center for two ETOH patients (passed out drunk). Westfield Ambulance hired by Mullins Center was busy taking another ETOH patient to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

815 PM: Mullins Center line snakes out almost to the road waiting for techno music extravaganza

State Police, Hampden County Sheriffs, and the APD, prepare for darkness

7:15 PM  Extravaganja 2012 Pot Rally is done. No arrests (as in hands cuffed behind back and thrown in cell), but thirty (30) citations issued for possession of less than an ounce of pot. Each citation is a $100 fine. Now the real partying begins, with alcohol the drug of choice. And by the looks of the parking lot at APD headquarters, they are ready for anything.

AFD APD respond to reported drug overdose (4:10 PM). Gone on arrival

Crowd of thousands at 4:15 PM

Town Center very busy around Town Common 4:20 PM

APD bike cops make a bust 3:00 PM

Town Common Extravaganja 10:00 AM (2 hours until start)

7:30 AM
And so it begins...like a Hollywood disaster movie: sun shining brightly, a vivid blue sky, a bird chirping incessantly from a far off perch.

All across the region folks are starting to stir.  Soon, many thousands will descend upon us:  SoccerFest at UMass, Extravaganja pot festival on the town common.

By daylight things will be fine.  They always are.  Although a thousand students will start to party.

Then darkness comes.  More--much more--than a thousand students continue to party.  The Mullins Center opens for "Fantazia," a techno dance extravaganza attracting thousands more, who revel in partying.

The stage is set.

Bus route detours to mitigate parties

Pass the Ganja, man!

Town Center 3:10 PM Day One

Fine for public consumption alcohol: $300, a criminal offense

Fine for public consumption of marijuana: $100, a civil offense

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Sunday morning Day Two (7:00 AM) The calm before the storm

(12:45 PM)

Stoner discussion page

The Springfield Sunday Republican reports Interestingly this morning's Front Page print edition omits the photo of Matthew James and Niki Snow smoking pot and run a more family oriented photo of them juggling. And they change the headline from the cutesy "Annual Extravaganja festival lights up in Amherst" to a more boring "Marijuana fest mix of pot, policy"

The Boston Globe Reports