Holy Moley! What more could be thrown at us over the past three years? Raging destructive fires almost burned down Santa Rosa, and the Emerald Cup with it. Then, last year, we had the devastating effects of cannabis legalization and the torrential downpour that drenched the event on Sunday. If that wasn’t enough, along comes this year with another set of fires that threatened to burn down the cities north of Santa Rosa and then Santa Rosa itself. This time the added horror was in everyone losing power for days on end in the middle of their harvests. With vast amounts of cannabis biomass being fresh frozen this year, all those freezers and their contents were endangered. Farmers had to scramble to find generators on the fly as their fans, dehumidifiers, lights, etc. were turned off with very little notice. Until the last minute, most Emerald Triangle folks didn’t think their power would be cut off.
The great news is that between the incredible work of all the firefighters, our prayers to the heavens being heard, and the luck of the winds and weather settling down, most everything is still standing.
Now we have to deal with the continued adverse effects of relentless regulations. Its wally whomped the entire industry. Not enough legal retailers, too many taxes, harsh challenges for farmers to get permitted, the vape cart crisis; you name, we’ve been hit by it. It’s honestly a dire situation. Most of the leading companies are laying people off and running out of cash. We went from 3000 retailers to well under a 1000 after legalization. Cannabis should have been treated like alcohol. The state should regulate everything. Our proposition gave the cities and counties control, which lead to too much of a restricted market place.
Our community is made up of resilient souls, and through it all, we’re doing our best and moving forward into the light and future that awaits us. The industry has nowhere to go but up. Over the next few years, things will stabilize and settle down. The farmers and brands that are left standing will be in great shape as we spread out across the country and the world. Despite all the roadblocks and challenges, there’s an exciting new vision we’re creating together.
With all this in mind, the 16th annual Emerald Cup prepares to continue our mission to produce the best cannabis competition in the world, help instill and restore the hopes and dreams of the folks working so diligently to succeed; to bring the community together to celebrate, lament, mourn, make some hard needed bucks, learn a thing or three; and to party down.
This year we’ve invited some old-schoolers to join us. Tommy Chong will be at the Cup to receive the Willie Nelson Award. Snoop Dogg will be playing some beats for us. Steel Pulse has a new CD, and they’ll be playing the new songs. We have Santigold, Emancipator, The Polish Ambassador, and many other great acts set to rock the days away.
We’ll have three stages of music to keep you grooving.
