Budget cuts and financial woes forced San Francisco to cancel its annual 420 celebration at Golden Gate Park this year, but a self-described psychedelic church says it will step in to help support the thousands of people expected to still make the “religious pilgrimage.”
“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,” said Church of Ambrosia Pastor Dave Hodges in a statement. “This is like a pilgrimage to Mecca.”
An annual hazy, smoke-filled celebration that goes back to San Francisco’s Summer of Love in 1967, the cannabis-themed festival draws in thousands of people for music, food, comedy and, of course, weed.
In 2022, the event drew about 20,000 people.
But in March 26, the city announced the smoke-filled event at Golden Gate Park was canceled because of city budget cuts that prevented the city’s parks to cover staffing for the event, and challenges in the cannabis industry that made sponsorships hard to secure.
Despite the cancellation, many people were still expected to make the annual trek to the park for the April 20 celebration, a day observed by cannabis enthusiasts. City officials stressed there would be no stage, no live music, no booths, and encouraged people to instead celebrate 420 “in a place that’s special and local to them.”
On Thursday, Hodges said Church of Ambrosia had teamed up with the Haight Ashbury Merchants Assn. and nonprofit groups to provide a “safety net” for what they expect to be thousands of visitors.
Calling the 420 annual event a “religious pilgrimage,” the church said in a statement staff will be dispatched to the park to help visitors. They’ll be fitted and identified with T-shirts with the words, “Stoner Safety.”
“We see this as a religious event,” Hodges said.
San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The church, with locations in Oakland and San Francisco, describes itself as a nondenominational, interfaith religious organization that supports access to entheogenic plants, including cannabis and mushrooms.
According to the statement, the church will be providing more than 30 portable toilets, a medical tent staffed with four medics, a team equipped with overdose-reversing drug Narcan, and a booth to hand out bottles of water.
In the statement, Hodges said he is not encouraging people to attend the event.
“The fewer the participants,” he said, “the less likely that available services will fall short,” the statement read.