The Seattle Overnight question of the week: What do former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper and TV travel guide/author Rick Steves have in common?

They will be attending the "World's largest pot rally" this weekend as main speakers on the main stage for the annual Seattle Hempfest.

Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper (P-I file)

All hyperbole aside, it's sure to be the biggest pot rally in Seattle, given the hundred thousand or so sun baked and fully baked folks who turned out for last year's Hempfest in the P-I's back yard at Myrtle Edwards Park, where the event has taken root since 1995.

Steves and Stamper might seem like unlikely speakers, but both have been outspoken proponents for decriminalized marijuana laws in the past. Stamper, in fact, also spoke at the 2006 Hempfest, a first for a former police chief.

FULL SCHEDULE: Main Hempfest Web site

Steves, in particular, made local news last year when he publicly stated his pot position at University of Washington lecture, and Stamper has written and spoken widely on the subject.

Rick Steves

Started in 1991, Seattle Hempfest runs Saturday and Sunday after surmounting several permit challenges. Last year, the south entrance was a nightmare maze because of construction of the Olympic Sculpture Park.

But this year, a media release issued by chief organizer Vivian McPeak says Hempfest and the SAM folks are "cooperating on ways to minimize the impact of Hempfest on the Sculpture Park, while respecting the free speech of the annual marijuana reform rally."

So in keeping with that free speech theme, we'd like you to sound off on the subject, leaving it wide open, like the folks at Hempfest and the police, who in the past have displayed an unlikely ability to co-exist. If that now includes the sculpture park, too, then it is sure to be a unique Seattle event to remember.

At least until that short-term memory loss takes over.

SEE FORMER BLOG POST ON HEMPFEST

HAIKU TIME: Now while you're contemplating whether or not to attend Hempfest, take a stab at the Big Blog's daily Haiku Contest, with today's topic on the Sonics owners.