Keith Fagin exhorts the crowd to be peaceful and respectful and so forth
and have a good time.
No shots were worth keeping of the narrow, constricted crowd that worked their way down
17th avenue, broken up by stoplights every block. The first good ones are of the entrance
into Central Park.
The camera lens got me a good look at every sign; most were home-made and
people were obviously proud of them.
There was a lot of slogan-chanting in the Park - once people were away from
being drowned out by the traffic.
Exiting Central Park and towards the 8th Avenue Mall.
Once on the mall, the march really seemed to fill it up, if briefly.
For a distance of three blocks, solid pro-marijuana signs and slogan-chanting.
As they flowed into the Olympic Plaza, I wondered if they'd fill it. But as all the
stragglers trailed in, it became clear that packed together, the crowd was a few hundred, and
the Plaza good for a thousand.
Grant Krieger addressing the crowd.
A crowd member reacting to Grant Krieger.
The crowd, listening to Grant Krieger.
The sign competition continued exhibitions, informally, throughout the event.
The crowd and the downtown backdrop.
One local station news camera simply became the on-stage show for several minutes, with -
it seemed to me - the most "colourful" and brazen (in their smoking) members of the audience
crowding up to the front.
I wasn't clear what the young man's offense was, but it only got him a ticket.
The crowd booed but left it at that, urged loudly by Keith to cooperate
if ticketed.
People turned back to the prize-awarding as the boring ticketing process dragged on.
I actually heard the guy say "thank you" as the cop handed him the ticket and turned
away.
All but two of the assigned police were bicycle cops, tossing out friendly
smiles all around as they shepherded the march through 17th Av and several
streets of traffic signals.
There was a very drawn out process of handing out what seemed to be a hundred prizes.
My favourite T shirt of the day.
I chatted for a few minutes with this gentleman, who has medical reasons for his interest.
These three young ladies decided to help get the March noticed and watched
by Calgarians. It was fun to watch the bar patrons along 17th Av. see
the marchers go past their stools at arm's length.
Anyway, they were responsible for my best picture of the day, which I
might entitle "The three happiest guys in a happy crowd".