With the 420 celebration at Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park canceled, there is a new celebration brewing a week before called Weed Week, which hosts seven nights of programming featuring seven top shelf growers premiering seven world class strains at some of the most fabulous smoking lounges in the area from Saturday, April 13 through Friday, April 19. All for free! Check out more info here.
“Unfortunately, the 420 Hippie Hill event in Golden Gate Park will not be happening as planned this year—due to city wide budget cutbacks, the climate of the cannabis industry & economy we have been unable to secure enough financial sponsorship to get everything required for a safe, clean, city & state compliant event,” read the post on the 420 Hippie Hill website to all stoners’ dismay.
Knowing the nature of the event, something will happen there nonetheless. It is shocking but not surprising that the sponsors could not get enough funding to pay for the day. The cannabis industry is not in great shape. Why? Over-taxation, regulation, and fees against the cannabis companies since day one have just worn it down. Every industry needs room to be nurtured like a growing plant, but the state and city have strangled the industry so badly that success and profits are difficult to come by. We desperately need to change the laws to make it easier for such a company to survive and thrive.
Until then, Sunset Connect and Leafly are picking up the slack and bringing us Weed Week.
I love Sunset Connect. Not only are they the first and only 100% social equity owned and operated manufacturing facility in San Francisco, but they sell those amazing 1 gram joints with packaging designed after the old Muni passes for around $5 each with plenty of interesting strains. I am excited to hear they are teaming with Leafly which is my go-to website when it comes to looking up weed strain information and dispensary locations.
Everything kicks off at Mission Cannabis Club on Saturday, April 13, from 3pm-5pm for a Sunset Connect Pre-Roll Premiere Party where new strains will be released and there will be a live-streamed chat with Leafly’s David Downs, a cannabis journalist and Weed Week producer. The free event will also include consumption, on-site sales, giveaways and refreshments.
Interestingly, BONG-O BINGO, my drag cannabis bingo show, follows after the kick off party from 6pm-9pm at Mission Cannabis Club. We will be giving away cannabis with every round of bingo while Manzanita Naturals supplies the mocktails and Ooka provides smokey treats. So plan on joining Brandelicious, Thee Pristine Condition and myself to continue the fun after the Weed Week kick off.
Next up on Sunday, April 14, there is the launch of Blueberry Banana x Grape Gas seeds at Meadow HQ located in SOMA hosted by Chris Lynch from Cypher Genetics from 12pm-5pm. Also expect to see stuff from Mill Nutrients, Purple City Genetics, Uncle Dad Vibes and HendRx Nursery. This is a perfect program if you are interested in growing your own weed from the seed onward.
On Monday, April 15, our friends at Sonoma Hills Farm are set to showcase their Kiva’s Lost Farms edible collaboration at SPARC on Polk with Green State’s editor Rachel Gordon conducting the interview.
As Weed Week continues onward, Fig Farms will be taking over SPARC on Polk’s lounge on Tuesday, April 16 from 5:30-7:30pm with freelance cannabis writer Kaisha-Dyan McMillan hosting.
Hump day brings Sense brand cannabis growers Steve and Rob talking about new strains and cultivation techniques in a live-stream chat conducted by Lester Black from SFGate.com at Moe Greens on Wednesday, April 17 from 5:30-7:30pm.
Then we hit the Avenues at the very cool Solful Dispensary on Irving Street near 10th Avenue with Greenshock Farms showing off their Peppermint Sleighride from 5:30pm-7:30pm on Thursday, April 18 with a live chat at 6:30pm.
On Friday, April 19, Weed Week wraps up as Moon Made Farms premiers some full-sun flower at The Vapor Room from 1:30-3:30pm with High Times’ editor in chief Ellen Holland moderating. Then it’s off to the Castro to Flore Dispensary from 5:30-7:30pm for a cannabis drop from MOCA Humboldt.
As Saturday, April 20 aka 4/20 looms, I recommend you go to your favorite dispensary and purchase lots of weed from your favorite companies to show them some canna love. I’m sure there will be specials all over the place as well.
Also, a little gay bar called The Stud that was the first bar to ever host a queer cannabis drag show, called PUFF, back in 2016 is reopening on the night of April 20, so take your canna goodies there and enjoy the day and the new era of The Stud!
Hooray for Weed Week! Not only will you learn about all the new cannabis stuff, but you get a chance to visit some really fun smoking lounges.
It looks like there are plenty of events to intrigue the cannabis connoisseur. Thank you to SF Connect and Leafly for producing it along with Ali Jamalian from Sunset Connect, Neil Dellacava from Chronic Culture, and cannabis experts Sabrina Pacheco, Shannona McInerney and Ben Grampergu.
“Weed growers are rock stars, and strains are celebrities,” said producer Downs. “I want to give these strain releases the same rock star treatment that albums used to get at Amoeba Records. And we are going to. It’s going to be dope.”
It is exciting to see a lot of cannabis activity going on in San Francisco. It’s been pretty quiet lately. Hopefully this will kick off a bunch of fun cannabis events all over the Bay Area. Be sure and let me know so I can attend and write about it.
See you there!
Now, it’s time to light up
