Almost every sector of the global economy has suffered from the spread of the coronavirus, and the legal cannabis industry is not an exception. Hemp and marijuana conferences in Colorado that were scheduled for the spring are canceling or postponing. On the other hand, pot-friendly hospitality companies are contending with cancellations and continuous efforts to sanitize effectively.
Travelers and business owners are striving to respond and adapt to daily developments, which leaves the event organizers with lots of uncertainty, as explained by the CEO of Denver’s annual Cannabis Wedding Expo, Philip Wolf.
Initially, the expo was scheduled for April 5 in Lakewood. But, it was postponed until October 25after Wolf talked to would-be attendees, vendors, and government officials. Additionally, he pushed a Cannabis Wedding Expo in Las Vegas back from March to October. Wolf remembers:
“Last week, I didn’t think there was any way I’d reschedule it because of our showcase being more of a centralized focus instead of a focus on out-of-state attendees.”
Earlier this week, Wolf was preparing a statement on the expo’s sanitary precautions assuming that the event would go on as earlier planned. He said:
“We were paying attention to the situation and taking cautionary steps, but over the weekend, more cases started coming online. The cities and states weren’t as prepared to contain this as we’d hoped them to be. By about noon on Tuesday, we decided to let our vendors know we were going to pull the plug.”
Cancellations
The Cannabis Wedding Expo suspension came after a similar decision by the NoCo Hemp Expo organizers postponed their event. The hemp-industry trade show was scheduled to take place later this month in Denver, expected to attract over 20,000 people. But, they decided to push the conference back to August, on March 9.
The organizers of Hempfest Colorado, which is a two-day CBD and hemp conference that was expected to take place from April 10-11 in Weld County, decided to cancel the event altogether on March 12. Individuals and entities beyond event organizers are hurt by the scrapped plans. Wolf commented:
“A lot of our service vendors in the cannabis industry — the cannabis chefs and bud-tending bars — summertime is very big for them in terms of working weddings and finding new clients. Not being able to drum up business right now for the future, with everyone being in uncertainty, it’s going to hit those companies hard. I think we’re going to start seeing a trickle-down effect.”
While the event organizers in the hemp industry are dealing with several significant blows, the marijuana hospitality companies are striving to stave off death by thousands of cuts. Requests to delay tours or cancellations are becoming the norm for Colorado Cannabis Tours. This marijuana tourism company offers private pot-friendly art classes, travel, and other activities.
The founder of the Tours company, Michael Eymer, acknowledged that the requests ramped up over the week. He is currently making drastic changes to his business model in an attempt to stay open during this coronavirus scare.
Eymer has reduced the capacity of his tours and classes by 30 to 50% to enable more space between patrons. He is now sanitizing the class areas and vehicles between every session.
Extra Costs
Guests and employees are now expected to sign waivers. These waivers will confirm that they have not experienced any flu or cold symptoms. Furthermore, they should not have come into contact with anybody with any of the symptoms in the past 48 hours. Eymer said:
“If someone says they have allergies, we’ll allow them to take a temperature check with non-contact temperature readers. I envision more businesses will be requiring temperature checks before allowing people to enter any public space.”
Eymer has similar businesses in multiple other cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington D.C. Denver tours are suffering much due to the cancellation of travel plans by the out-of-staters. Moreover, his Puff, Pass, and Paint classes operating in the bigger cities are seeing fewer people due to the coronavirus worries. He said:
“We had a larger amount of sick calls than we’ve ever seen during a recent Puff, Pass, and Paint class. A wave of them has come in over the past week.”
State of Emergency
Although Governor Jared Polis and Mayor Michael Hancock declared states of emergencies, Eymer believes that the smaller companies and events like his can scale back and survive. Nonetheless, the bigger events like those scheduled for April 20 to celebrate the 4/20 holiday might be at risk.
The FlyHi 420 Festival organizers are yet to update the status of their event. This annual marijuana celebration and the free concert is expected to attract 30,000 to 50,000 people to the Civic Center Park on April 20.
Interestingly, the Denver Department of Parks and Recreation issues official permits just a week before the event is scheduled to take place. FlyHi always waits until the last minute to announce comprehensive details.
This action might move to the smaller activities of that day. Eymer predicts:
“I’m very bearish on how 4/20 will work this year, but again, that will be up to the government. I don’t see big events happening on 4/20; I really don’t. Denver has already been scaling back as the years go by.”
The frontline of the marijuana sector is dispensaries. For this sector of the industry, it has so far remained business as usual during the coronavirus scare. Employees working at a Higher Grade dispensary reported on March 12 that business is still at the same level as usual.
Up to now, there is no panic bulk-buying since many pot shops throughout town continue sending text-message and email blasts about new strains and their current deals. Good Chemistry stated in one of its texts that it is striving to keep its stores and products sanitized. The co-owner of Yuma Way dispensaries, Rita Tsalyuk, explained:
“We’ve noticed a little fewer customers, but that can be hard to tell. Sometimes before the holidays and the deals that come with them, there will be slow weeks. It’s hard to tell whether it’s coronavirus or St. Patrick’s Day.”
Nonetheless, everyone is in a wait-and-see mode to determine the impact of the spread of the coronavirus on the marijuana industry.
