An endless stream of people kept coming to Hempfest on Saturday. The event continues Sunday at Myrtle Edwards Park, Elliott Bay Park and the Olympic Sculpture Park.

To give Seattle's annual marijuana festival a more polished, professional look, Hempfest director Vivian McPeak tamed his dreadlocks Saturday, pulling them into a ponytail and topping them with a hat. McPeak and his hairstyle are responding to a culture shift at Hempfest, in its 18th year in Seattle.

At the first Hempfest in 1991, 500 protesters gathered at Volunteer Park to push a fringe political agenda.

But this year, scheduled speakers include Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata and state Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland.

As the event — which is expected draw some 100,000 people to Myrtle Edwards Park, Elliott Bay Park and the Olympic Sculpture Park this weekend — enters the mainstream, there is controversy: Is it time for the pro-pot movement to shed its countercultural, hippie image?

Among the tie-dyed drifters stereotypically associated with marijuana rallies are tourists, older couples, students, families and mainstream folks who share the belief that marijuana should be legal.

McPeak considers the event's diversity one of its strengths.

But Dominic Holden, Hempfest's former director, thinks tie-dye and prayer flags on the stages undermine the event's credibility.

Two months ago, the Hempfest board voted to ban Holden from speaking at Hempfest. Holden, who writes for The Stranger newspaper, wrote in March that the event is a "patchouli-stained ghetto."

"It plays into a stigma that hippies want to legalize marijuana primarily so they can have more access to their own vice," he said in an interview.

McPeak disagrees.

"We do more and more every year to make our event more professional ... but toning down the event and the countercultural vibe here is not something I feel pressured to do."

Besides, McPeak says, his event is successful, and so are his political causes.

Seattle voted five years ago to make marijuana the lowest priority of its police officers, and medical-marijuana use is legal in Washington. Next session, the state Legislature will again consider downgrading pot possession from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction.

"More and more people are coming to understand that marijuana is not a bad thing. It's actually far safer than alcohol," said Mason Tvert, the executive director of an advocacy group called SAFER. "The negative stigma around it is fading away."

SAFER stands for Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation.

John Radonski, a retired worker from the Coca-Cola bottling company, is nobody's hippie. He made his first visit to Hempfest Saturday in dark-rinse jeans and a tucked-in T-shirt. He grew more interested in marijuana legalization when he started using it as medicine for a back problem.

Now he considers himself a dabbler in a culture he had little to do with before.

Arlene Brown, of Everett, and her friend Kristine Paul, of Seattle, come to Hempfest for the people-watching and the music. They have noticed a change over the years.

"It's more diversified," said Paul. "It was more hippie before."

Whatever its rebellious roots, Hempfest is a carefully patrolled and well-orchestrated event. First-aid workers pass out sunscreen. Security officers search bags. As people streamed in Saturday, a woman with a megaphone boomed: "Reminder: Cops are your friends, but you are in a public park."