Text Chris Dobney, photos Tree Faerie
There was smoke in the air at MardiGrass but not the sort I was expecting
My first experience of Nimbin was when I arrived there in 1973 as a teenager for the now famous Aquarius Festival, which spurred the hippie settler movement that forever changed this picturesque northern rivers town.
A haze of music and dope smoke wafted over the hills for a week. Even if you weren’t smoking you could get a contact high from the fug.
I’m not sure what I expected from my first MardiGrass, all these years later, but it showed me how much Nimbin has changed.
Story continues below photo gallery
I arrived just as S Sorrensen was calling out the winners of the Hemp Olympix (not stoned but I still missed it).
The atmosphere was chilled and friendly, and the evidence of hippie capitalism was on display: from tie-died everything to silicon bongs and ‘scientifically balanced fertilisers’ (I don’t think they’re growing veggies with it).
There were a few hippies in the crowd, including one lone man my age wearing nothing but a lap-lap, but there was a surprising preponderance of mall-wear. Which made me ponder… are hippies finally dying out or is marijuana finally becoming mainstream?
Speaking of which, where was that certain smell that I expected to be wafting on the Nimbin breeze?
Mostly missing in action. It was a bit like the stoner equivalent of the pub with no beer.
I won’t lie and say I didn’t see a single joint being passed around but ironically it seemed there was more alcohol being consumed than weed.
It appeared the self-advertised ‘riot police’ patrolling the town didn’t need to lift a finger to keep the crowd in line.
Eventually I trekked down to the car park where the parade was fast assembling, from whence I could see smoke rising. But it was not what I thought: the Bundjalung parade leaders were conducting a smoking ceremony; the only green stuff they were burning was eucalyptus leaf.
The colourful parade and sunny weather had everyone smiling and chilling – including a couple of the cops –but as I left town I couldn’t help wondering if so many years of waiting for the law to change had taken the edge off what used to be a protest movement.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
