Pubdate: 22 Oct 1998 Source: Business Wire SAN FRANCISCO INDUSTRIAL HEMP EXPO '98 Saturday, November 14th and Sunday, November 15th at Fort Mason Center Hemp Expo '98 SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 22, 1998--Making history as the biggest-ever industrial hemp expo on the North American continent, Expos of the Americas presents: the San Francisco Industrial Hemp Expo, Saturday, November 14th and Sunday, November 15th at Fort Mason Center, at Buchanan, San Francisco. General admission is $8 for one day or $12 for the weekend; an attendance of 15,000 is expected. The event is designed to address the needs of the burgeoning hemp industry, the curiosity of the local community, and the concerns of the inquiring citizen. This event is the first in a series of Expos across the U.S. and was inspired by the one-of-a-kind Santa Cruz Industrial Hemp Expo. "Our purpose is to publicize, welcome and celebrate the timely return of a thriving domestic hemp industry, to lay out the enormous potential of the hemp plant as a sustainable resource, and to advocate hemp as a fitting industry for the new millennium," say Micki Tummino, San Francisco Industrial Hemp Expo Director. The Expo will host 140 trade, retail and information booths, along with a U.S. Hemp History Museum and cultural display in the Festival Pavilion. Special presentations include the twice-daily Hemp Times Magazine Hemp Fashion Show, keynote speakers, and live music. A two-day educational program, including panels of hemp industry leaders, focusing on hemp paper, fabric, food and fuel is scheduled next door in the historic Magic Theater. The Hemp House will be on display, as well as a Straw Bale House Exhibit and information booth on the forecourt of the Pavilion. Food offerings during the weekend include hemp and organic meals and snacks, hemp coffee and fresh juices. The mezzanine bistro will serve hemp beer, hemp wine and a variety of savory and sweet hemp snacks. As the market for hemp/cotton blends continues to expand, the Expo welcomes the participation of the Sustainable Cotton Project, the Organic Fiber Council and organic cotton companies now incorporating hemp into their lines. Show Hours - -- Wholesale only from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. both days. -- Open to public from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Special Events Highlights Opening Night Candlelight Dinner/Benefit for The Headwaters Forest The Expo opens with the Friday night Golden Gate Candlelit Dinner in the pavilion. This is a benefit dinner for The Headwaters Forest and will highlight the continuing efforts of Julia Butterfly Hill, who has been atop the redwood tree she calls Luna in a continuous treesit since December 1997 in protest of Pacific Lumber's continued destruction of the last and largest remaining unprotected groves of ancient Redwood trees on earth. The master of hemp cuisine, Denis Cicero of New York City's Galaxy Global Eatery is flying out to orchestrate the gourmet hemp dinner for this event. The wine comes complements of Nirvana Homebrew the delectable dessert is the creation of Humboldt Hemp Foods, the servers will be outfitted in Two Star Dog hemp garments, the hemp candles are by Sheri of Hempcat. Saturday Morning Hemp Pancake Power Breakfast Featuring special guest speakers. Sponsored by One Brown Mouse's organic hemp pancake mix and Odwalla Juice Company. Open to vendors and guests only. Saturday Night Vendor Appreciation Party Crop Circle Clothing Company in conjunction with Expos of the Americas is organizing this party for vendors and their guests. "Hemp, Economics & Planetary Survival -- The New Synthesis" Pete Brady, our keynote speaker, is a professional investigative reporter, photojournalist, dynamic and entertaining public speaker and researcher whom specializes in environmental, ethical and social justice issues. Sustainable Structures and Eco-Architecture Slide Show Patrick Hayes, of Real Goods Solar Living Center will present this 45-minute slide show. Pine Ridge Indian Initiative Solidarity Tie-In The Slim Butte Land Use Association is now engaged in "defending, promoting and advancing the status of the tribal ordinance" amending the Oglala Sioux tribal penal code related to industrial hemp. Tribal members take their vote on this ordinance November 14. That day we will hear from Tom Cook who has been on the Pine Ridge reservation since the Wounded Knee occupation of 1973 and is their Hemp Project Director. CONTACT: Hemp Expo Micki Tummino, 831/438-EXPO ext. www.hempexpos.com - --- Checked-by: Mike Gogulski