Features

Cannabis garden at Edmonton Fringe Festival blends pot, events

Published on September 27, 2024 by Pat Bulmer

Photo: Contributed

Bringing cannabis to a special event near you is the goal of a partnership between two Alberta-based companies.

Positive Intent Events (PIE) recently hosted a cannabis garden at the 10-day Edmonton Fringe Festival and is now teaming up with nationwide retailer High Tide to host more cannabis pop-up stores at events in Alberta—and eventually across Canada.

“We had an excellent 10 days,” said Daffyd Roderick, managing partner of PIE, about the cannabis garden at the Edmonton Fringe.

“People were really excited to be able to have a space that was adult-focused and friendly and fun, and allowed them to enjoy cannabis edibles and a mocktail (you can’t have alcohol and cannabis in the same location) and just feel welcomed. The feedback was very positive.”

The cannabis garden was the first for PIE and one of the first in Alberta.

Last December, Alberta became the first province to allow temporary cannabis sales at events and festivals.

“My partner and I started the company earlier this year when we were watching the legislation shift in Alberta to allow for events to take place where they could provide a temporary cannabis retail experience,” said Roderick, explaining they have seven years’ experience in the cannabis industry and were particularly familiar in dealing with cannabis regulations.

“They opened the doors and we felt that event providers would want to know that their business partners understood the regulations and took the regulations seriously—and worked to create a positive atmosphere.”

Cannabis at the Edmonton Fringe Festival

At the fringe fest garden, cannabis could be ordered and delivered.

“For that event, we had cannabis delivered on site. We weren’t able to do the retail on the site, just working through some regulation because it was an open-to-all event, minors allowed,” said Roderick.

“When people start to do something new, you see a lot of cautiousness. I think that’s served us fairly well in the cannabis sector.”

The Edmonton Fringe is Canada’s largest fringe festival.

“To get a festival as large as the fringe to trust us with that was really great and they were really quite pleased with the reception of it. We’ll be returning there next year.”

Numo Cannabis provided the onsite deliveries in 30 minutes or less. An online ordering system was also available.

Cannabis could be at festivals, concerts

The new arrangement with High Tide offers an opportunity to expand the concept.

“Our goal ultimately is to move this across Canada as the regulation shift allows for this.”

“There’s multiple opportunities to take part in events like fringe, festivals, concerts,” Roderick said.

His company’s not the only one doing this. He noted another company set up a similar cannabis pop-up at a comedy festival.

Right now only Alberta allows pop-ups, Roderick said.

“We’re sharing our experience with regulators across the country. It’s really about building confidence among those regulators that this is feasible, can be done responsibly and helps meet a need.”

PIE expects to announce as soon as next week where the next pop-up locations will appear.

Cannabis retailer High Tide helps with expansion

In its own news release, High Tide said: “With 183 Canna Cabana branded retail stores across Canada … High Tide will leverage the strength of its national brand to deliver incredible retail experiences at a broad variety of events and venues, while working with PIE to create additional opportunities for cannabis pop-ups across Canada.”

“We intend to bring the power of our innovative and disruptive discount club model that has helped us achieve almost 11% market share in the Canadian provinces where we operate, into the nascent world of cannabis sales at adults-only events, such as music festivals, comedy shows and business conferences” said Raj Grover, High Tide’s top man, in the release.

Beer gardens are a tradition at many events, but Roderick said a lot of people, especially younger people, are looking for something different.

“A lot of people aren’t drinking as they once did. They’re looking for alternatives and that’s what we want to be,” he said.