On Weed is a new journalistic series for High Above Seattle, detailing local events and locations while being high on Washington recreational marijuana. The name “On Weed” is borrowed from the stoner cult classic Half Baked (1998), there is a scene in which Jon Stewart describes various activities and facts that are better “on weed” (also known as “the Enhancement Smoker“).
It’s that time of the year again when seemingly everything is flavored pumpkin, and children are sent back into the depths of education yes, it’s fall. With this fall season, there are at least some positive attributes: brisk weather, Halloween, and Oktoberfest.
The occasion in America is really just an excuse to get plastered (ala St Patty’s day), but Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture. Wanting to support this rustic tradition (and also the constant desire to continuously shove beer into my face), I decided to attend the Fremont Oktoberfest, which goes down at The Foundry.
Living in Fremont myself, it was simply a walk down the hill. After all, this is one of the top 10 events to toast Oktoberfest in the world! It wouldn’t be a typical day without partaking in some of the green before the grain, especially for such an occasion.
Recently I had picked up a sativa from Hashtag (on Stone), it was a 2 gram package of Huckleberry Mountain Girl Scout Cookies produced by Green Barn Farms. The nuggets are dense, and burn up nicely in my pipe which is my primary smoking device because the old bong broke. Yeah… real world problems, huh?
It was sweater weather, with a little wind. After purchasing the tickets online, and using a promo code to get two extra tasting tokens, we each had a total of 12 drinks to be had. After entering through the gates, there was a giant blue slide to the right that only drunk people or kids could enjoy.
The time was around 2 pm. I had researched the Fremont Oktoberfest on Yelp, and had quickly learned that getting there before 3 o’clock was imperative to avoid large lines. We were all still stoned and super indecisive, so it was natural to propose we start off with an Oktoberfest beer from a local brewery.
Credit: www.fremontoktoberfest.com
Looking at the map, it appeared the venue was sort of a triangle. We’d never been to the foundry before, but it was a charming little spot. Straight in from the entrance there were beer tents on the left, and food on the right; beyond was a stage where various artists played. There were another few blocks parallel to the entrance which had the other beer tents, and a western wooden area linking the two streets (known as Mischief Distillery).
What followed slowly devolved into that of a bender. 5 ounces isn’t much, but having that multiplied by 12 adds up to a good amount of beer. The high was a good way to mellow into the buzz of the festival, but unfortunately we couldn’t smoke more; there’s no re-entry. If I truly planned ahead, edibles could be stashed but it was not that day.
We got corndogs at one point, eyeing the sub-par bratwursts in disappointed patrons hands (it was pretty much just a hot dog). We also got a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato, because obviously this is traditional Bavarian food (c’mon, it’s Fremont).
As the event wained on and our tokens dwindled, the more we noticed college babies flooding in. No, not “baby” babies, I’m talking frat bro and sorority babies. Suddenly it felt like we were more so in the middle of Spring Break, rather then Oktoberfest. The whole of the U-District had overtaken Fremont and we were in the middle of it all.
Okay okay, not all youth’s are so intolerable but it just kind of caught me by surprise. Regardless I was half in the bag at that point, we quickly spent through our remaining few tasting tokens and made a run towards the entrance. It was the perfect time to hit the road, after a jaunt well spent drinking and…
on (legal) weed.
Next year I will buy tickets earlier (to save money) and will probably go earlier. It was a fun time, and an entertaining way to spend the day. Cheers!
