With the sounds of reggae and rap blaring from the concert stage and groups of people lounging in the grass, Saturday’s scene at RFK’s Lot 6 could have been any outdoor music festival, with one glaring exception—the line for beer was practically nonexistent.

The lack of swarming crowds around the alcohol offerings was the biggest hint that attendees were at the first-ever National Cannabis Festival, which promised a celebration of the progress on marijuana legalization amidst the musical stylings of headliner De La Soul, as well as the Backyard Band, Congo Sanchez, and more.

Food trucks in an area labeled “Munchies” boasted much longer lines, but none so long as an offering for a free “dab”—a way of smoking concentrated hash—in the vendors section. Other offerings included samples of hemp energy drinks, sales of glass pipes and vaping accouterments, and promotions for hemp parties and dispensaries. Metropolitan Wellness Center was offering virtual reality tours through its cultivation centers and dispensary.

Despite warnings from organizers to refrain from getting high at the National Cannabis Festival in keeping with current District laws, festival goers smoked joints, blunts, batties, and bubblers, and ate edibles out in the open.

About 4,900 people were signed-up for the event, according to Caroline Phillips, organizer and co-founder of the festival. Tickets went for $35, or $37 at the door. Phillips said in a statement that the inaugural event showcased the “diversity of east coast cannabis community.”

Dan K, who runs the lifestyle brand Dankest, drove up from Wilmington, NC. “I consider myself one of the 420 pillars of the movement,” he says. “I’m here to support the festival.”

Before the doors opened at noon, about a dozen people met at the Capitol at 10 a.m. for an anti-prohibition march. In the pouring rain, they parked a traveling jail cell by tourist buses, and posed for photos with the “East Coast Unity Cipher—”a large, mock joint that had been traveling down the eastern seaboard from Portland, Maine.

Half of them chose to walk down Independence Avenue to RFK as planned, while the rest sought shelter from the downpour instead.

Alex Jeffrey, the executive director of DC NORML, opted to march the 19 blocks to the festival. Despite last week’s vote to permanently ban pot clubs, he’s optimistic about the state of legalization. “The majority is 71 percent of the voters,” he says. “They’re with us.”

A number of politicians attended the National Cannabis Festival, including Maryland State Rep. Mike Smiegel, who is challenging D.C. autonomy enemy Andy Harris for his seat in Congress, and Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer. They gave remarks on the main stage, while an education pavilion offered seminars on politics, yoga, gardening, and more.

D.C. At-large Councilmember David Grosso was spotted sitting in the grass, helping some attendees snap a photo with DCMJ activist Adam Eidinger after his speech on the main stage. “I’m so happy to see everyone out,” says Grosso. “D.C. is a great place to have the first National Cannabis Festival.” He says that, despite the vote to ban pot clubs, “we’re going to keep moving forward to tax and regulate in the District. We have to recognize that adults can make good decisions.”

Grosso, who also helped judge a Shark Tank-esque competition called the CannaTank Entrepreneur Contest earlier in the day, was later found grooving to De La Soul.

David Jude Jolicoeur, also known as Trugoy, of De La Soul expressed his commitment to the cause of legalization while performing. “We’ve been smoking marijuana for more than 20 years,” he said. “My mother doesn’t like it. My grandmother doesn’t like it, but I fucking need it.”