High Times magazine brings its Cannabis Cup to the Sooner State for the first time in August. That’s not true. Wait. Yes it is.
While High Times has not made an event announcement as of the morning of July 8, the organization has confirmed the event, but only after twice denying that it is taking place.
On June 29, the event was announced unofficially during the Advance 788 event at Lost Lakes Entertainment Complex.
Oklahoma Gazette immediately reached out for comment. On the afternoon of July 1, a spokesperson replied, “Not true.”
After requesting clarification, they wrote back the next day, “We have already asked the organizers to take down our logo. The one going around various Facebook groups is NOT a sanctioned High Times event. We do plan to be in Oklahoma soon but we would announce those plans on our own channels, not Facebook groups.”
Sixteen minutes later, a second message said, “Disregard my original response. I knew we had plans for an OKC event but wasn’t made aware of anything being finalized. We should be announcing the event on our socials soon.”
Repeated requests for additional comment have not been returned, though Oklahoma Gazette has learned account representatives have been in contact with many possible vendors.
Lost Lakes Entertainment Complex has also confirmed that the venue has been rented for the Cannabis Cup on Aug. 24 and 25, but no further details were available.
An internal information sheet distributed to possible vendors with some details for the event was also obtained by Oklahoma Gazette.
The event hours are listed as noon-10 p.m. Aug. 24 and noon-8 p.m. on Aug. 25.
The event will be limited to those age 18 and older with valid Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) licenses, including employees and exhibitors. No other states will be accepted.
No purchases or sales of cannabis are allowed at the event, though all state businesses are welcome.
There will be 17 Cannabis Cup categories: indoor indica flower, indoor sativa flower, indoor hybrid flower, CBD flower, sun-grown flower, indica concentrates, sativa concentrates, hybrid concentrates, non-solvent hash, THC edibles, CBD edibles, THC vape pen and cartridge, CBD vape pen and cartridge, medically infused products, topicals, prerolls and hemp-based CBD products.
Entries without a booth cost $1,000, and entries with a booth are $500.
There are three types of booths available: a 20-by-20-foot booth for $12,000, a 20-by-10-foot booth for $6,500 and a 10-by-10-foot booth for $3,500.
Additionally, there will be presenting and premier sponsorship opportunities.
Carri Lawrence, also known as Carri Chronic, was the organizer for the Advance 788 event, where the news broke.
Lawrence had a conference call with High Times on July 3. High Times did not know that patients could not immediately receive their cards on-site after receiving their recommendations, so she said Chronic Docs will not be participating in the Cannabis Cup event after all.
Cannabis awards
While it might be the first High Times Cannabis Cup in Oklahoma, it will not be the first round of awards for Oklahoma cannabis and products. That honor goes to Oklahoma Grower’s Cup, awarded at OG Fest at Heavener Runestone Park June 27-29. The park is privately owned and operated by a 501(c)(3) organization, which organizer Derek “Hooligan Bean” Workman said allowed for open consumption on the premises.
“I think that’s another reason why we chose that place too was because it was private and seeing as we wanted to celebrate [SQ]788 kind of like a High Times or like a Woodstock,” Workman said. “The goal is to, I guess, be the first one to try to throw something like this, you know? I mean, an open smoking festival was something that a lot of people were like, ‘Oh, God. Cops. It’s going to be a stoner fest.’ I’ve been on camera and film, you know, just openly smoking for a long time, and I figured everybody should be able to enjoy it without anybody really getting in under the skin and really celebrate [SQ]788 as patients, try to do it the right way without too many hiccups. We did great, honestly, and the end result was excellent.”
About 500 people attended over the course of the three days, and competitions were held in five categories: flower, concentrates, vape cartridges, edibles and homegrown cannabis.
"An open smoking festival was something that a lot of people were like, ‘Oh, God. Cops. It’s going to be a stoner fest.’"
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—Derek Workman
The top prizes for the first OG Cup went to Ganulv Gardens (flower), New Leaf Medicinals (concentrates), Helix (vape cartridge) Creekside Extractions (edibles) and Rodger Jeffcoats (homegrown). Norma Sapp was given the lifetime achievement award, Chris Moe was named man of the year and Raychelle Wilson named woman of the year.
Next year, they plan to break the homegrown category into regional competitions and then the finalists from each will compete in the OG Fest for the main cup.
“This way, it’ll give home growers the opportunity for basically a whole season,” Workman said. “We really wanted to break it down into hybrid, sativa and indica, but like I said, first one, we needed to see how it went this time and next year, there’s gonna be a lot of change. … From the concentrates, I wanted to have shatter, wax, budder, bubble hash, solvent, non-solvent. We kind of wanted to make it a little bit different than High Times because, you know, we knew that they were supposed to be coming at some point in time. … We wanted to try to keep it Oklahoma, you know. That’s why, instead of raising ticket prices, we dropped them. It started out at $100, and by the time it ended, it was $25.”
They also gave away about 150 tickets.
While there were no run-ins with law enforcement, Workman said there were two minor medical incidents due to the heat.
“It’s hot outside,” he said. “Don’t fucking think you can take a 1-gram dab and hold that bitch in and think you’re cool at all, ’cause you ain’t.”
One woman attempted such a feat and collapsed. She was revived by medics and recovered in a cabin.
The next OG Fest will take place in or near Oklahoma City and will be in the fall instead of the summer.
“I want to go for ‘Croptober,’ honestly,” Workman said. “You should have a great crop by October. But then again, I don’t know what High Times going to do. We’re little. We want to stay little. And I’m not going to try to compete with another event.”
