"WE SMOKE POT"

NORWAY - Aaron Fuda led his contingent down the center of Main Street,
sign in hand, a small bullhorn at his mouth and red fairy wings on his
back.

"We smoke pot," Fuda informed the crowd gathered for Norway's 41st
Annual Arts Festival. "We like it a lot."

Fuda led a blue van pulling a portable hot tub decorated with a giant
marijuana cigarette and pro-marijuana signs.

A few friends soaked in the hot tub - mostly male, mostly topless. A
topless woman joined them as they traveled east down Main Street, her
chest screened from the crowd by the walls of the tub and her fellow
protesters.

The float picked up a few more participants, including a more visibly
topless Emma Donovan of Norway and a guitar player, as it made its way
up Main Street to Butters Park.

The spectacle didn't elicit much more than a few grins, some laughter
and cheers from arts festival patrons. Most stopped browsing among the
water colors, pastels and jewelry to watch Fuda and friends pass.

Then, the festival-goers got back to the art.

It wasn't the reaction Fuda expected, he said afterward, shrugging in
response to being asked what he did expect.

During the protest, he carried a sign that read: "Legalize Fudafest,
In the Woods or In Town."

That's the crux of the protest - whether Fuda and his friends get to
celebrate on his land on McKay Road according to their own rules. Town
ordinances have curtailed the annual clothing-optional, pro-marijuana,
anti-government Fudafest party for the past two years.

"The town keeps passing new laws to keep Aaron from having Fudafest on
his own property," said protester Emma Donovan. "So, if they're not
gonna let us do it on his property in the woods, then we're going to
do it in town."

If Saturday's reaction was any indication, the group would get little
opposition from townspeople.

"I think it's great," said Laura Wright from the Mill Street Catering
Company. "This festival should represent everybody in town - and
they're part of the town, too."

The protesters were even given a place on the arts festival's official
schedule of events. They were listed under the "Performance Art"
heading and given an official spot in Butters Park.

Organizer Aranka Matolcsy said the festival couldn't legally stop Fuda
and friends from parading through town, so organizers chose to include
them.

"I think there is room for us to work together," Matolcsy said. "As
long as they don't disrupt the other artists, we don't have a problem.
And they did a great job last year."

Having Fuda and his group in town increased media focus on the event
in 2007.

"We wouldn't have had television stations out covering our little arts
festival," Matolcsy said. "But they came last year, and a lot of
people heard about us for the first time then."

Not everyone was happy with the Fuda performance art.

"I'm a grandparent, and I was going to bring my grandchildren here,"
said Karen Murphy of Norway.

"I don't walk around in front of my grandchildren or anyone smoking
pot or topless. I'm mad at the organizers for allowing it to happen.
You don't see this kind of thing at a festival in Florida or anywhere
else. You shouldn't see it in Norway, Maine."