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Partygoers listen to live music Sunday, the second of two days at the annual 4/20 marijuana festival in Denver. The annual event is the first 420 marijuana celebration since retail marijuana stores began selling in January 2014.

(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Perhaps nowhere was Sunday's 4/20 celebration bigger than in Denver, where thousands gathered at events across the city to openly recognize what the editorial director of High Times Magazine called "the national stoner holiday."

The Denver Post's John Ingold reports that tens of thousands of people gathered Sunday at Civic Center Park, sending up "a collective smoke cloud at 4:20 p.m. that quickly dissipated in the breeze." Thousands more attended the sold-out High Times Cannabis Cup, also held in Denver, where Denver Post staff writer Eric Gorski reports that marijuana companies offered samples to people over 21 and those with Colorado medical marijuana cards.

Gorski wrote:

The tremendous amount of marijuana being consumed begged the question: How much is too much? (Cat) Jordan said as a general rule, she slows down when she starts to get very tired.

She said she had sampled about 10 dabs, a concentrated form of marijuana that is extremely potent. She "got excited" and tried too much early, then slowed down, she said. Marijuana, she said, helps with her anxiety and is safer than prescription drugs.

The day wasn't without snags, reported Ingold:

By late afternoon, Denver police had issued 47 citations for public marijuana consumption at the downtown rally, as well as 16 other arrests or citations for other reasons. Denver Health Medical Center paramedics had treated 14 people, including three who were taken to detox. The hospital's emergency room had treated about a half-dozen people, most of whom had passed out through a combination of sun and substance use.

Denver Post photojournalist Aaron Ontiveroz has this video of the day's events:

Other marijuana headlines worth your time:

The strange story of how the '4/20' pot holiday got its name (The Washington Post)

-- Noelle Crombie