High Ground Festival aims to make cannabis fun again
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Celebration and fun used to be a main focus of pre-legalisation cannabis in B.C.
Nowadays it seems like many in the industry are consumed by growing their business and brand, increasing THC content in their product, navigating regulations, all the while keeping their head above water financially amidst a regulatory framework that favors megacorporations instead of small scale, family-run operations.
In B.C. ‘s not so recent past, cannabis enthusiasts and advocates used to gather at celebrations such as Ted Smith’s Hempology 101, which was a weekly event in Victoria that began in 1994 and ran for over two decades. Dozens, if not hundreds of people would gather every week and celebrate cannabis, play music, and connect to grow the community.
Smith, with his handheld microphone and portable amplifier, would educate the crowd, covering topics such as cannabis in Canadian law and medical cannabis studies.
420 Vancouver is a historical event that continues to this day, much to the chagrin of local
authorities. This celebration of cannabis features speeches, music and a farmer’s market, all in the name of weed. It’s celebrations like this, Hempology, and many others that continue to strengthen the cannabis community and help to lift ongoing stigma.
The crew at Papa Joe’s Organics is on a mission to bring back the celebratory vibe of cannabis events by combining fun, education and business all in one place at the High Ground Festival, which takes place this autumn in Duncan, B.C.
“We’re trying to make weed fun again. A lot of the trade shows have been very dry, with a lot of speeches and things like that. At times it seems to be very repetitive,” explained Cam Mckinnon, one of the founders of Papa Joe’s Organics, a Sooke, B.C. boutique company that offers living-soil organic cannabis products.
Cam outlined how High Ground stands apart from existing cannabis expos in Canada.
“We’ll have the cannabis trade show inside, consisting of around 65 booths. We’ll have artisan stalls outside. Some of them face the stage so that people can display their wares for people who are walking to the main stage of the concert. There will be a smaller stage closer to the camping area, with rotating entertainment. There will be food trucks, lots of camping, and a certain number of RV sites.”
Salmo, B.C.’s Unicorn Cup combines music performances with a cannabis competition. High Ground Festival is approaching things differently by offering both music and an expo/tradeshow.
High Ground happens in October, a time of year when historically, B.C. cannabis communities would celebrate the harvest of sun-grown cannabis—a time to celebrate abundance and the culmination of months of hard work cultivating outdoor cannabis.
High Ground takes place on October 4-6, 2024, at the Cowichan Exhibition Grounds in Duncan, B.C.
