As thousands headed down to celebrate 4/20 on Vancouver's Sunset Beach, local pot activists said there's still much to fight for even though recreational use of the drug will likely be legal this time next year.

Dana Larsen, one of the organizers of the massive annual pot protest and festival, told CTV Morning Live Friday that there are still changes he wants to see after legalization.

"The event will continue as a protest for many years to come," he said. "There's some good things in the Cannabis Act, but it's by no means the final piece of legislation that we need to really end the stigma and punishment of cannabis users in Canada."

Although recreational cannabis use will likely be legal next April 20, the festival itself will not be. Under B.C.'s legalization framework, marijuana use will be banned in areas frequented by children including community beaches and parks.

Jodie Emery, another prominent cannabis activist from Vancouver, watched Friday morning as local vendors set up their tents on the beach for the day.

"It's a protest against prohibition and a celebration of the cannabis culture," she said. "And it is a global event."

She said she’d like to see the government make it easier for smaller cannabis entrepreneurs in B.C. to sell their products legally.

"This is the current existing industry; this is what should be legalized. But the government is looking to continue criminalizing this and force consumers to those government-approved businesses."

Larsen said he was expecting about 100,000 people to come to Sunset Beach over the course of the day, and thought peak crowd size could hover around 50,000.

High schools in Delta, North Vancouver and Coquitlam had a professional development day scheduled Friday, meaning students didn't have to go to class.

Larsen addressed concerns over cannabis being sold or given to the thousands of minors present at the event by saying all vendors need to sign a code of conduct and display an "adults only" sign at their booth.

"There's going to be [police] and a lot of our volunteers down there. If anybody sees anybody selling to minors, we put a stop to that," he said.

Many vendors could be seen asking people for ID Friday.

It didn't take long, however, for CTV News cameras to capture an ID-free sale to someone who looked like they could be in high school.

Moments earlier, paramedics were seen tending to at teen on a bench who was feeling unwell. The boy's friends told CTV News he is underage and the they were worried he'd consumed too much cannabis.

Organizers charge vendors between $500 and $750 for space in the main event area nearest the stage, a section that takes up the entire surface of Sunset Beach Park. Those prime spots have been sold out for weeks, the online map outlining 202 possible booth spaces. The parking lot further east from the stage is where an additional 78 vendors are invited to set up for free. Unregistered vendors set up on the sand for free, as well.

Larsen wouldn’t elaborate on how much money a vendor could hope to make on the day, only saying "some booths do really well, others don't."

This year is also the first time organizers will foot part of the bill for cleanup.

"We're going to cover all of the city and Park Board costs except for policing," he said. "The idea that we need to pay a huge amount of money [for policing] or you're not allowed to protest—that, I think, is wrong-headed."

Last year, the event came under fire for leaving a $245,000 bill for cleanup, policing and re-seeding a trampled lawn. This week Park Board chair Stuart Mckinnon told reporters that 4/20 organizers ultimately gave the board $7,000 to re-seed the lawn and contribute to repairs.

This year, organizers are laying rubber mats to protect the grass.

Larsen drew comparisons between 4/20 and other events that are a mixture of activism and celebration such as the Vancouver Pride Parade, saying legalization is by no means the end of the road for marijuana activism.

"We're still seeing cannabis users treated far more harshly than alcohol or tobacco users," he said.

"[With] some of the penalties in the act, a 19-year-old sharing a joint with an 18-year-old can face … prison. So we still have a lot of things to complain about."