Yesterday at Forecastle Festival at Louisville's Waterfront Park, I noticed a clear lack of Metro Cops while I watched a very young man sneakily smoke weed during CAKE's performance. Of course I did assume there would be some pot smokers at an outdoor, hippie-labeled music festival, but it seemed that weed was everywhere. The security guards at the entrance hardly checked my bag and I immediately thought of all the things I could have brought if I knew they'd be so lenient.
One ingenious boozer had filled a clean (or I assume it was clean) suntan lotion bottle with some sort of alcohol and was drinking out of it. This was creepy at first (I'm a little slow and thought he was drinking suntan lotion), but once I figured it out I was envious of his efforts...beers are $5 each.
All of my envy and wonder for people's substance use stopped abruptly around 10:30 p.m. before the Smashing Pumpkins took the main stage. I saw a man running as fast as he could through a crowd of people. Then right behind him were two more men. They all looked like average concert goers until I followed them to get a closer look. The two men chasing the runaway tackled the guy to the ground in front a burrito stand and then to everyone's surprise handcuffed him. They were cops! The two undercover cops were dress to blend with the crowd completely. One looked like a cop trying to blend in with his short hair cut and tightly laced sneakers (most people at this festival are barefoot), but the other was in full hippy mode; he had a full red beard, a boonie-style fishing hat, and sandals. Truthfully he looked like he had just stepped out of a Patagonia catalog.
So let the guy with his face down in the grass and his hands cuffed behind his back be a lesson to you. If weed smoking didn't make you paranoid enough; the hippie standing next to you could really be a cop.
Photo courtesy of Louisville Metro Police Department Louisvilleky.gov
Maggie moved to Louisville from Buffalo, NY in Dec. 2009. She has also lived in London, Chicago, and Louisiana. Find out more about her business Weekend Wedding Warrior, LLC and her private counseling practice.
