It’s not often that you see a naked woman in a cowboy hat selling pot brownies to a guy with a mohawk wearing skin tight pants and eight different belts.

But if you were among the announced crowd of fifty thousand people last Saturday in Golden Gate Park for the 7th annual Power to the Peaceful Festival, you may have witnessed something along these lines.

“Basically every hippie in the city is here right now,” said SF State cinema major Scott Cannon.

The free festival had an eclectic group of conscious artists, musicians and speakers including Michael Franti and his band Spearhead, punk rock band Anti-Flag, slam poet Saul Williams, house DJ Miguel Migs, activist Angela Davis, and marijuana advocate/actor Woody Harrelson.

SF State Liberal Studies major Nina Ravizza has attended the event since 2002, but this year decided to get involved and volunteer.

“I felt like I helped make this happen. I got to see a very behind the scenes look, and see everything go up,” she said. “This is a very San Franciscan event. It’s not just the hippie culture, it’s everyone. And this year was especially different because of the whole punk scene.”

Festival organizer/activist Franti had a semester fling with SF State, studying communications, but dropped out because he had a son, and wanted to make music a full-time job.

“We put this together so people can say 'I am not alone.' When dissent is unpatriotic, it’s great to hear people raise their voice,” Franti said.

Anti-Flag fans turned their vocal chords hoarse as they sang along to politically charged lyrics while the band jumped on stage, adding an occasional “Fuck George W. Bush!” in the mix.

But it was shirts off and peace sings up for Franti and Spearhead as the crowd chanted along screaming “Power to the Peaceful!” Marie Daulne of Zap Mama and Woody Harrelson joined on stage for a couple of songs. The 6-foot-6-inch Franti shook his nine inches of dreadlocks, hopped on his barefeet, screamed and crooned in the microphone all the while keeping the same serine positive energy found at a yoga studio. And when he said “Everyone clap your hands,” an ocean of people responded.

“It was crazy seeing everyone in the crowd dance and bounce,” said SF State psychology major Nick Foden, 20. “They did everything Michael Franti said.”

Franti, who recently visited Iraq, Palestine, and Israel chose the theme “Bring ‘Em Home” to help remind people that the best way to support your troops abroad is to bring them home today, but was seriously underscored after the devastation of the Gulf Coast.

“When I was in Iraq and talking to soldiers, most of them believed in the reasons to go,” Franti explained. “They believed that Saddam had a direct connection to 9/11 and that they were going to find weapons of mass destruction, but all they found were ours. More than anything, they just wanted to come home. Now with Katrina, why are all of our military resources being exhausted in Iraq? It's not just people we want to bring home, it’s our resources, our helicopters, our national guard.”

“It's not just about crazy people or hippies,” said Anti-Flag drummer Pat Thetic. “It's about policeman, fireman, volunteers and people from all walks of life.”

The event is a zero waste and all profit event where all of the work is done by volunteers and the money donated to Katrina victims and other socially conscious causes.

Franti and Anti-Flag heard of each other through word of mouth. He chooses artists with “meat on the bones” and substance to their songwriting. And for the first year, he incorporated the Action Sport Environmental Coalition, an organization that builds ecologically friendly skate ramps out of “forest stewardship certified wood.”

“We have similar ideas about change, freedom, people and about using music to create change,” said Justin Sane, singer/guitarist for Anti-Flag. “Anti-Flag is always looking to get out of their niche. It’s important to cross boundaries.”

Anti-Flag founded the Military Free Zone project, which seeks to inform students that under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools receiving federal funding must provide the government with the names and personal information of the attendees, which is then given to the military and used for recruiting.

Franti and Anti-Flag are working to bring their social justice message to the people by organizing and performing more events nation wide. But free time is a hard thing to come by if you organize one of the biggest events in San Francisco.

“We basically clean the park, go home and sleep and wake up on Monday and start planning for next year.”

Catch Michael Franti’s movie “I know I’m not alone,” about his trip to the Middle East at the San Francisco World Film Festival on Sept. 30, 2005 at the Cinearts Empire Theatre at 8:00 pm.