Not much celebration planned for 4/20 in Okanagan, Kamloops

Most stoners have a holiday tradition for 4/20, maybe it’s to smoke weed by the lake, or smoke weed at a friend’s house, or smoke weed and see how many Cheetos you can eat. But there aren’t many places in Okanagan or Kamloops hosting big, public 4/20 parties.

Cannabis Cottage in Penticton is hosting its third annual 4/20 extravaganza on its “potio” on Monday, April 20 with food and music.

“It is a Monday, it’s a weekday, and Mondays are like, ‘ugh, Monday.’ But why not start the week right? Why not start it with a little bit of festivities and get some cannabis culture out there?” Cannabis Cottage’s Mariana Wolff told iNFOnews.ca.

Smoking pot is allowed on private patios in B.C., but not many cannabis shops have taken advantage of that regulation.

Taste Cannabis in Kamloops is opening its own cannabis-friendly patio and taking the unofficial stoner’s holiday to have a grand opening celebration. The manager said it’s a great way to set themselves apart, bring attention to the new patio and have show customers a good time.

Wolff said the struggle with a 4/20 celebration, and really any cannabis focused event, is over-regulation so there might be a lot of events that aren’t widely advertised.

“It’s very restrictive, and it’s hard to even just promote anything cannabis at all. We can’t do any kind of advertising,” she said.

Cannabis Cottage has a patio in an ideal spot to meet the regulations for a smoking-friendly patio.

“The only reason that this event has worked the last two years is because it’s technically outside of our licensed establishment, but still located on private property,” she said. “It respects all of the provincial smoking bylaws and our municipal smoking bylaws, so we’re kind of like in this unique little location where it can happen.”

This year the weather is supposed to be solid for smoking doobies outside with your buddies, but last year Cannabis Cottage got rained out. Wolff said the weather didn’t dampen determined potheads.

“With the power of the stoner everybody came together. People brought market tents and we set up a little market in a matter of 15 minutes because everyone was so determined to not cancel,” she said.

She hopes that events like this can illustrate the potential for weed focused events.

“It demonstrates to our regulators that these kinds of events are safe and can be pulled off smoothly. In fact, even smoother than some of the alcohol dominant events,” she said.

“We don’t ever see anybody smoking so much that they’re puking all over the sidewalk or getting aggressive and violent. Typically they just get sleepy and hungry and then wander off home.”

With fewer people drinking alcohol, Wolff said there is space for more cannabis events.

“I think it will get there. It’s crawling along at a very slow pace, but I’ll take whatever we can get.
Baby steps work too,” she said.