While the legal adult-use cannabis market in New York continues to be a horror show, Revelry NYC shows the NY Cannabiz is doing its best to keep on keeping on.
The unique festival was once again at Pier 36 on the East River north of the Manhattan Bridge. Revelry events are in their ninth year, hosting events in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Hudson, and Yonkers, with this being their second at Pier 36. It is unique since it is both for cannabis professionals and the public. The first day is business-to-business. The second is open to the public.
There is a distinct lack of industry events in NYC. This isn’t solely because of the mess that NY State regulators have made in their rollout. But also because a lot of the big cannabis event companies, MJBiz, MJ Unpacked, Benzinga, and NECANN, have had difficulty dealing with the cost of Gotham venues.
From their original desire to create an event that truly reflects the diversity of cannabis in New York, Lulu Tsui and Jacobi Holland, co-founders of Revelry, stepped into the void and created the mothership of bud there.
Revelry NY Cannabiz Show
Well over 250 exhibitors, including both a large showing from multi-state and NY State-centric operators, packed the 55,000 square foot space. And they sold over 4,500 tickets for the event.
The aisles were packed with those trying to sample and shmooze weed enterprise reps. Most herb conferences don’t allow any sort of product sampling.
According to exhibitors, Rove, Stiizy, Jeeter, PAX, Kiva, Weedmaps, Wyld, to name a few of the nationally known, exhibited. Plus, hundreds of local companies like Skyworld, Flower House, Head & Heal, Native Nations Cannabis, Nanticoke, and scores of others were there.
Liam O’Brien, Co-founder of Fernway, a company that started in Massachusetts and is now in both NY and NJ, remarked that Revelry was very successful for them and those he talked with. He said, while New York is more difficult to deal with, “there are a lot more cannabis companies in New York.”
Enjoying the Show
This year’s Revelry barred attendees from heading to the outside promenade on the East River and its great views of lower Manhattan, Dumbo, and Brooklyn. But the FDR Drive side with a large stage that featured on the second day, Durand Bernarr (solo artist and backup to Erykah Badu and Anderson Pak), Phony PPL, Dos Flakos, and Angel and Dren. All NYC-based talent was a great conversation area.
*On the exhibit floor, Fat Joe held court at the Jeeter booth. Mike Tyson packed the aisles for Tyson 2.0. Rob Gronkowski was at the Foy booth, and Remy Banks greeted the crowd at Olio.
Cannabiznesses rely on one-to-one contact since many social media corporations (Meta/Facebook/Instagram), right now, are clamping down on weed content.
In addition, increased competition in the industry has led more companies to start up, leading to price drops. So, events like Revelry become an essential part of their ability to make money.
BY JOHN BOLLINGER
