Photos from
Woodhouse Moor,
in Leeds, on 4/20.
Quite appropriately, it’s a little foggy to anyone’s knowledge how the event actually came to be.
4/20 is the Christmas day of every cannabis enthusiasts calendar. On this day, “stoners” and “pot heads” of all backgrounds congregate together to smoke a fat one (induce a marijuana filled cigarette) collectively at, you guessed it, 4:20pm.
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In Leeds, the location of choice is Woodhouse Moor. Although cannabis is still very much illegal in the UK, year after year thousands still manage to descend onto the park to partake in the event in one way or another and protest the illegality.
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2021 was no different, despite the pandemic the event still went ahead just a little more watered down. Live music, food stalls and a large cloud of weed smoke.
The event has gone ahead for more years than anyone cares to remember. However, what has played a large part in the festivities in recent years is a live music presence. Regular attendees will joyfully recall previous 4/20’s and the presence of large sound systems rumbling the ground within the park. Although, due to Covid and the trials which we now face because of it, there was no complaining that a four piece acoustic band would have to suffice.
“oi, get a photo of us lad,” said the group of boys, sat unconcerned with a very tall piece of water filtered smoking apparatus.
More commonly referred to as a bong.
The event begins to slowly wind down at around 5pm, around 30 minutes after everyone’s simultaneous “spark up.” For now, in the eyes of the law, it seems like the legislation of cannabis isn’t making much headway in becoming any less of a crime than it is already considered to be. Nonetheless, throughout the day, not one confrontational moment between weed smoker and police officer could be spotted. Perhaps slowly the worlds view on weed may be adjusting, and people may begin to view it in a different light compared to other drugs when all they can see is people in a park and all they can smell is weed.
All images from the day were shot and left completely unedited. Definitely fair to assume that the celebration which takes place across the country is one of the more unusual of the British calendar. Whatever your stance on the matter, it’s definitely one you could consider experiencing.