Still a bit early, in some spots at least, to get started outdoors. The story I "know" isn't very exciting. A group of kids in college would get out at 4:15-ish and be smoking by 4:20, it snowballed from there.
I think the true meaning of 420 should be mobilizing awareness for marijuana reform. I mean, I like blazing on Parliament Hill every year, but if the "spotlight" is on marijuana for one day a year, i dont think sitting around blazing in public is the best way to spend that finite time. In the end there are people that go to jail for the various MJ charges; it seems really fucked up that WE put people in cages for that. I think the reform movement would have a better public perception if we organized ourselves a little more functionally.
I believe 4/20 is about staying with the homies and smokin' herb and just being rooted in the marijuana culture