Inside The 2016 Las Vegas Hemp Fest
The third annual Las Vegas Hemp Fest took place on June 4, 2016, at Craig Ranch Regional Park, with vendors, dispensaries and live music in brutal heat. Here is what I saw, and what I would change for 2017. It was hot.
It was real hot.
My weather app told me it was 104 degrees outside. A heat advisory warning had been issued. The app also showed me a big triangle with an exclamation mark inside of it, so you know it meant business.
I should probably go home, I thought.
But I’d never been to a Hemp Fest before. Plus, Snoop was supposed to perform that day.
I wanted to see Snoop.
The Third Annual Las Vegas Hemp Fest, which took place on June 4th at Craig Ranch Regional Park, was an assault on the senses, a melting pot of hip-hop, reggae, and hippie culture, yet transcending all of these and centering on the one plant after which the whole shebang is named.
Hemp. Cannabis. Mary Jane. Marijuana.
People of all ages and ethnicities were there, and many of them were sitting on the grass, smoking pot out in the open. This surprised me, but maybe it shouldn’t have. After all, it was a Hemp Fest. What did I think people were going to do? Have relay races?
It was a reminder, though, of how fluid the whole notion of “the law” can be. With recreational marijuana legalization on the November ballot in Nevada, watching people smoke cannabis in public felt like a sign of things to come. Voters approved it in November 2016, but using marijuana in public is still a misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $600.
I visited the Vegas Cannabis Magazine tent and got the latest issue. I learned who the 420 Nurses are and what the group does. Essence Cannabis Dispensary, which was handing out free, non-infused brownie samples, said in 2016 that a registered nurse was available at its locations for free product consultations.
Hanson’s Water Treatment was there, raising money for veterans suffering from PTSD. And at the Medizen dispensary tent, one of their reps spoke to me with the passion of an evangelist. He preached the gospel of “Chloe”, a strain he said was sold only at Medizin. I was told it would be unlike anything I’d ever experienced.
Overall, the vendors were having a tough time. One woman complained that the heat was driving the crowds away. It was also difficult to rally her own team members to promote the business because nobody wanted to leave the shade. Who could blame them?
Obviously, more people would show up as the temperature got cooler, but would those people even want to walk through the vendor areas? Wouldn’t they rather just listen to music and get high?
If you were a cannabis patient or consumer, the Las Vegas Hemp Fest was worth the trip. Craig Ranch Regional Park was a beautiful place to walk around. You could eat relatively good food, learn about new products and businesses, meet like-minded people, listen to live music, and just chill.
But if you were a business owner who wanted to network, generate leads, and sell products, you were facing an uphill battle. Perhaps those attending the 2016 CannaCon in September would have better luck, temperature-wise.
Two recommendations for the 2017 Las Vegas Hemp Fest:
- Do it earlier in the season, when it will be cooler. The high that day was well over 100 degrees. I’m not a meteorologist, but it felt like each summer was hotter than the last. Why not have the Hemp Fest on the 20th of April (4/20) next year? Sure, it’s a little on the nose, but it’s an easy date to remember, and there’ll be less chance of people passing out from heat exhaustion.
- Give every ticket buyer all-day access. Festival tickets were $50, but you had to buy a $200 V.I.P. ticket if you wanted to leave and come back later. It’s hard not to feel like you’re being penalized for having a life outside of the festival. All-day access would allow people who have jobs, family obligations, or unexpected emergencies to enjoy the Hemp Fest during the day and evening.
As I was in line to get my obligatory plate of chili cheese fries, a guy leaned over to me and said, “They advertised on the website that their water slide would be three blocks long.” He pointed to a nearby water slide and snorted. “That’s not even close to three blocks long. That’s, like, half a block, if that.”
I shrugged. Maybe the longer slide was somewhere else, but that was the least of my worries. I’d been there for about five hours, and the heat was making my brain sizzle. It was time to go home. If there was a three-block long water slide somewhere, I wasn’t going to get to see it. Or Snoop, for that matter.
