In 2017, I was asked to join the board of the New York City Cannabis Parade to replace Doug Greene.
The other two board members were Noah Potter and Troy Smit.
Founded in 1973 by the Yippies, the Parade moved around from park to park in New York, finally ending up in Union Square.
A march from Herald Square to Union Square precedes the rally in the park.
We changed the name to NYC Cannabis Parade & Rally and eventually added board members Ryan Lepore, Kym Byrnes, Tanya Osborne, Leo Bridgewater, Dave Holland and Ford Guarino (Potter left the board).
In Union Square Park on E. 14 St., we were permited to gather in the South Plaza. A large stage was provided by Jerzy Sound.
2018 was a big year for the event, with actress and gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon speaking from our stage. A media blitz followed.
One of my goals was to improve the live music at Union Square. The 2019 event boasted 420 Funk Mob and the High & Mighty Brass Band.
Then Covid happened. We were canceled in 2020 and came back the next year just after the legislature passed legalization with a small event on several risers with no stage cover. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and NYS Attorney Letitia James where among the speakers.
"In February, we were told the Parade was moving to Harlem."
In 2022, we had the Bluess Brothers and Redman booked to perform, but rain got in the way. Schumer came back to speak on that dank day.
By 2023, with Covid fading fast, we wanted to make a comeback with our big stage, lots of speakers and great music. But the Parks Depatment wouldn't grant us a permit. Post legalizaion and Covid, they clearly wanted us to go away.
That's when I reached out to Dasheeda Dawson, who was hired to run the new City agency, Cannabis NYC, as part of Small Buiness Services. Their goal was community building and Dawson saw the Parade, which she'd previously marched in, as a way to reach out to the City's greater cannabis community with a history that dates back 50 years.
Dawson agreed to help us secure the necessary permits, which she accomplished. The big stage was coming back! We partnered with the City on the 2023 event.
We booked Dead Prez and several other hip-hop artists and contacted Schumer again, who joined us for the third year in a row. The City provided tents and tables for the sponsors and orgs in Union Square Park.
The two teams worked well togeher – Dawson's Cannabis NYC and our NYC Cannabis Parade & Rally. We duplicated the effort in 2024 with Havoc from Mobb Deep and Grammy nominee Raul Midón on the bill.
"The tradition of a May event in downtown Manhattan is important to us."
But coming into 2025 things were different. In February, we were told the Parade was moving to Harlem on July 19. That's a huge break in tradition. Why is this happening, we asked. Dawson said the City had received considerable pushback from the Parks Department, NYPD and community boards. Parks doesn't like the pot smoking in Union Square (it's technically illegal to smoke anything in a park) and the police has issues with the parade route. So they bumped us to Harlem.
Meanwhile, just 10 blocks south in Washington Square Park, huge unpermitted smoking events with wide-open sales take place every 4/20. Why the double standard?
The tradition of a May event in downtown Manhattan is important to us. It's happened on the first Saturday of May for the last 52 years. But now we have to not only move the location but the date as well.
We agree with idea of an event in Harlem; it's the original home of marijuana use in New York, where jazz musicians smoked and played in the '30s and '40s. Perhaps the City should sponsor a Harlem Cannabis Day rather than piggyback on the Parade.
Then, in March, Dawson resigned under a cloud of scandal. We lost one of the event's leaders. Will the Parade still go on in Harlem? We can't find out. I've conacted Cannabis NYC numeorus times since Dawson departed and have received no information about the City's plans. The Cannabis NYC website does not mention the Parade.
Our website says the Parade is scheduled for Harlem on July 19, but we can't verify if that is true.
On top of all this, the City bidding process might exclude us from producing our own event.
The void created by this confusion has allowed former Parade director Dana Beal and his cohorts to jump in with a "Re-Claim the Pot Parade" event scheduled for May 3. This is not the official NYC Cannabis Parade & Rally
"We demand the return of the event to its rightful owners, the activists who worked for fifty years to legalize pot," their press release reads.
We are the rightful owners of the Cannabis Parade under the name NYCCPR Inc. We have a board and bylaws, as passed down to us from Beal and others.
"NYC is seizing the annual Cannabis Parade and replacing it with a cannabis business industry event," the release goes on. That's not true either.
Why the City chose this year to make significant changes in the Cannabis Parade is unclear. But proposing a move and not following up has allowed others to step in.
Keeping a rally event going post legalization isn't easy (look at Seattle Hempfest). We sought to pivot with the help of the City of New York. That plan has apparently backfired.
What happens next is anyone's guess in the complicated world of New York City legal cannabis.
Update: Cannabis NYC has informed me that the Harlem event on July 19 will only be a festival and not a parade. It will have another name. The official NYC Cannabis Parade & Rally will not be happening in 2024 and may have come to an end as the headline indicates.
RELATED LINKS
• Cannabis Industry Events (2025)
• Hippie Hill Event Canceled (2024)
• Willie Nelson's 92nd Birthdays
