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Labor Day Weekend Marks Oakland’s Inaugural City-Sponsored Cannabis Festival

Cannabis / How to choose / September 29, 2021

Dubbed Market Daze, this inaugural event is the first of its kind to cater to the city’s sprawling cannabis culture and be permitted by the City of Oakland.

An array of sponsors and spectacles are expected to be in attendance during the Labor Day weekend celebration.

The event’s host is Smoakland, an online store that provides cannabis and delivery services to the bay area. The event has been planned over the last two years and is highly anticipated among cannabis retailers and consumers alike.

Smoakland Director Chang Yi anticipates the event will be successful based on the organization’s approval from the city, despite the foray into uncharted waters, stating “There is no standard, formal application process here so it’s definitely been challenging to be the first and go through this gauntlet. No one else [in Oakland] has been able to successfully permit a cannabis sales event.”

Other prominent cannabis industry participants that will appear at the event include Harborside, Korova, and Blunts + More. Each of these industry retailers will be selling wares across cannabis verticals. Attendees will be able to enjoy samplings of cannabis products at each station. Those industry players who don’t have specific wares to offer, but rather service will be attending too. One of the most notable being Weedmaps, a dispensary and delivery intermediary for cannabis consumers.

Harborside head of marketing Alexis Mora offered optimism when asked about her organization’s part in the event, stating “We joined the event about a month and a half ago and we’re really excited that it’s going to be the first legal sesh in Oakland, which is a big step forward for the cannabis industry.”

A notable event being held in tandem with Smoakland is the music event, Hiero Day. The aptly-named event, hosted by Oakland music collective Hieroglyphics, is already an annual institution of Oakland that features live performances, listening parties, stand-up comedy, and dance battles among troupes of performers.

Participant ad organizers involved with Hiero Day were anxious about having to potentially cancel the annual event or even hold it virtually for viewers. One performer and Partner at Hieroglyphics Emporium, Tajai Massey, was interviewed by The Oaklandside on the event and its collaboration with Smoakland’s Market Daze.

As part of that conversation, Massey said “Hiero Day is a tradition and we don’t want to break that tradition by continuing it as a virtual event, which people are sort of burnt out on. Instead of us doing a big event and have it possibly be a super-spreader event, we decided to team up with Smoakland and make the best event we can, with safe protocols.”

On the marketing of Market Daze as a collaborative “sesh”, Massey explained to The Oaklandside that “There’s sessions everywhere, but this one is happening in a way that’s in compliance as far as tested products, tried and true brands, and the use of PPE and social distancing protocols. This is part of a lot of our lifestyles, and it shouldn’t be hidden or treated like it’s taboo.”

While organizers are enthusiastic about the upcoming event, they are far from the first to attempt a permitted cannabis event in Oakland, CA. For example, Preserving the Plant was an event planned by Edward Brown to take place in July as the first cannabis fair of its kind. However, Brown was notified just days before the event was to take place that a nearly $7,000 security fee for the event had yet to be paid to the Oakland Police Department. Without sufficient time to cover the costs of security, the event was ultimately unable to be held and was instead postponed until the fall.

Brown was understandably frustrated at both the sizable fee from the city and short notice alert of the outstanding fee, stating “There was no way we [could have] come up with that money without somebody taking out a loan. It was extremely frustrating. It felt like we were sabotaged. I followed every single rule that the city asked me to, and the state as well, being compliant and turning in things [on time].”

Yi confirmed the same fee had been required of the Market Daze event. Fortunately, there was enough time and support to raise the funds and ensure the event would be held as planned. The Security fee was only a small component of the veritable gauntlet of bureaucracy navigated up to this point.

”We’ve been trying for two years to permit this. Overall, the city has been very supportive but we have had some pushback here and there.”

Harborside’s Mora added, “We’ve been fighting over the last couple of years to kind of bring cannabis out of the shadows and into the light and when you have events like this, it helps normalize this plant that so many people use.”

 

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