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DENVER (KDVR) — Smoking weed in public at the Mile High 420 Festival is illegal. That was not stopping a lot of people from lighting up.

Steve Cardenas of Nebraska could not wait for the festival to take place.

“I’m definitely going to smoke this (joint) down here. There’s moon rocks in here. Some pretty good weed in here. So yeah, it’s going to the head, man. What are they going to do, arrest everybody?” Steve Cardenas said.

Festival organizers say $125,000 was spent on security, and 120 security personnel are roaming the grounds.

The area is under video surveillance. Noise levels from concerts are being monitored, and a force of plain-clothes officers are mixed in the crowd.

“We have metal detectors this year. We really don’t want to have any violence. This is a happy community. Cameras are everywhere, so we really beefed that up,” said Ashley Chubin, festival organizer.