SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. April 18, 2024 – The iconic Hippie Hill 420 event, held in Golden Gate park each April 20 for more than a half century, will be safe this Saturday thanks to the Church of Ambrosia, its collaboration with Haight Ashbury merchants and a host of nonprofit groups dedicated to providing support services.
Hippie Hill 420 typically draws thousands of cannabis devotees each year. This year, it was canceled by sponsors, citing lack of funds. But Church of Ambrosia Pastor Dave Hodges and the Haight Ashbury Merchants Association each recognized that thousands of people would likely show up on Saturday, cancellation or not.
So the Church, in addition to working with the merchants, has reached out to nonprofit groups to provide a basic “safety net” of necessary services such as water, medical aid, portable toilets, trash pickup and more.
Hodges said the organizational effort was necessary because cannabis devotees are compelled to come to Hippie Hill each year in what amounts to a “religious pilgrimage.” They will come this year, he said, despite the official events’ cancellation.
“This is like a pilgrimage to Mecca,” Hodges said. “We see this as a religious event. Anybody who is going out to Hippie Hill on 420 to smoke a joint, they’re doing that religiously, whether or not they realize it.”
The Church donations and collaborations are aimed at ensuring the annual event will be safe. Here’s how:
- The Merchants Association will provide 30+ portable toilets using church
donations, supplementing the 10 portables from the city. - The Church is donating funds for a “medic tent” and paying four medics – three stationed on Hippie Hill grounds and one in the tent. The medical team will have Narcan available for any opioid overdoses.
- MICAH’S HUGS also will provide Narcan; and DanceSafe will have test strips.
- The Church of Ambrosia will set up a booth to dispense thousands of bottles of water for those who do not bring their own.
- Bay Area Psychedelic Network will help the Church distribute water; and any donations received for water will go to that nonprofit group.
- Underscoring the safety concerns, church officials and support staff will wear T-shirts bearing the words “Stoner Safety.”
Hodges is not encouraging attendance. Rather, he is urging people to find alternate ways to observe 420. The fewer the participants, he said, the less likely that available services will fall short of the need.
He asks that those who do attend bring their own food and water and not to purchase any cannabis on site but, instead, to support their local dispensaries.
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Media Note: Pastor Dave Hodges will be available to talk to the news media during the event.For more information, contact Loretta Kalb
Loretta_Kalb@prxdigital.com / 916 835-4043