Audio Version | State of the Show: Brainerd, Duluth & The Future of Canna Connect | S2E4

Where is Canna Connect headed next?

In this special State of the Show episode, Stephen Eigenmann sits down with Creative Director Spencer Ploessl to reflect on the growth of Canna Connect and share what's ahead for the organization.

Recorded just before Canna Connect Brainerd, the conversation explores how the team is rethinking traditional cannabis networking through Community Pods, expanding into Greater Minnesota, and creating original content that connects entrepreneurs, operators, and industry professionals throughout the state.

Stephen and Spencer discuss:

•  Why Brainerd and Duluth are important markets for Minnesota cannabis 
•  The inspiration behind Community Pods 
•  Lessons learned from hosting events across the state 
•  Why authentic storytelling has become one of Canna Connect's greatest strengths 
•  Building relationships before licenses are awarded 
•  The long-term vision for Canna Connect and its growing network 

This episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at the ideas, conversations, and community helping shape the next chapter of Minnesota cannabis.

Grab tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/canna-connect-brainerd-a-community-event-for-minnesota-cannabis-tickets-1990901599277

Our Partner Network

Canna Connect is proud to collaborate with organizations that help strengthen Minnesota's cannabis ecosystem.

Dutchie supports dispensaries with modern retail technology that improves the customer experience and streamlines operations.

Local 49 represents the skilled workforce helping build Minnesota's cannabis infrastructure and supports employers and workers across the state.

Trailhead Cannabis Company continues to demonstrate what's possible for independent cannabis operators by building community and expanding access in Northern Minnesota.

Interested in joining the Canna Connect Network? Visit CannaConnectMN.com to learn more about upcoming events, podcast episodes, community spotlights, and partnership opportunities.

Become Part of the Canna Connect Community Network

Every episode, Community Spotlight, and partner profile helps connect Minnesota's cannabis industry. Visit CannaConnectMN.com to explore interviews, resources, events, and the trusted organizations helping shape the future of cannabis in Minnesota.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Even a good Facebook event like Anong had a pretty like the Anong event was well received.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right camera.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

It was 710 on a Friday, on reservation land, at a dispensary and tasting lounge, edited all the things that were like, that is awesome. Yes. So then you see more participation on a Facebook event. Regardless of if it was three weeks, made three weeks ahead of time or not.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Or seven days before.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

You just know, like in this day and age with Facebook events, that like even your most popular events these days are relatively lowly RSVP'd for on Facebook. It's been like that for a long time. Cannabis industry aside, I'm talking about just general events. Facebook events in general.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Farmers market, whatever, you know, art market, these banning.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Participating, letting people know you're going. Yeah. Yeah. It used to be more popular. Hey everybody, Steven with Canada Connect. Taking a quick minute to shout out today's sponsor, CEE, that is the Center for Energy and Environment. If you're not familiar with CEE, they're your one-stop shop for all lighting rebates. If you are in XL Energy Territory and you're a micro business, CEE is somebody that you need to talk to. Give Brad a call, give Tony a call, go online, one-stop shop, LED lighting rebates. They'll help take care of up to 60% of the cost associated with your grow and your build out with the lighting. Really nice people, great people to work with, huge sponsors of CannaConnect, and uh give them a shout. That's CEE, Center for Energy and Environment. Yeah, to your suggestion, LinkedIn events is probably a relatively newer feature. However, because we're utilizing panelists and there's four speaking opportunities throughout the day at Canada Connect Brainerd on July 30th, get your tickets. Then let's go we're leaning into LinkedIn event. And I like that folks are accepting the invitation. It makes it easy to share with their network. It lets them share with their network that they're speaking at this event. Yeah. To me, it's a great fit. Um, there's still a little more room for us to utilize Eventbrite and social media, sure, which we haven't done uh specifically. And then I also think Eventbrite ads do well on Instagram if you have great uh pictures from your events, so to really show people like what's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

We always hire professional photographers and videographers at all of our events, so it's not like we're short on the content.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

That has been something where it's like, man, this train has taken off and we are just going to continue doing it because the idea of not having a photographer at an event is like well, we didn't have one at our, you know, first well, maybe not first, but the event that we just went to, the Anong native cannabis co event where me, you and Luke had it up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

It's a great time.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Well, we considered it, but like traveling with a photographer is another level up. But since 710, since the back channel brewing Coco Flow collaboration, yeah, where Jesse Frost doubled as our professional photographer that day, like that has been since for the last year, we've had professional photography at all of our at everything that we do.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Whether it's our hosted or you guys are going somewhere to well, where did you guys go when you went up north? Didn't you go for a day? Uh no, no, no, no, no. Uh tribal.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Um well, yeah, we traveled with but we traveled with Darton. But that was that was uh Can of Connection in the sense of like Red Lake was looking for a photographer. We recommended Darton. We knew so we traveled together. Oh, perfect. Uh but no, you're yeah, I mean that's essentially where we're getting to. But yeah, for the rest of the year, as far as what we have planned, we have Can of Connect Brainerd on July 30th. Yep. And we have Can of Connect Duluth on October 15th. Yes. And that's all that's on our schedule. And I'm okay with that. I guess we can we can share on this podcast that we are doing the Lucky Leave After Party in February, the last official Lucky Leave After Party in Minneapolis. Yep. There will be no more, at least from us.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

And as we all know, everything changes. So we'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

But like I I didn't remember saying this to Jacob, but I said this to Jacob on the episode that dropped today that that there should be term limits for national trade shows coming into markets.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Kind of like how long you get to serve.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Two years or four years. Yeah, sure. Uh and anything over 2027 would be four years.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

So we started, we were just kind of talking about, you know, the event platforms from Eventbrite where we platform now. Oh, we were talking about what's the other one? Event high. Eventhigh.io. Eventhigh.io. Like we were talking about that and its integration with other events that are happening in and around the Minnesota cannabis space, as well as like, you know, the tried and true, like Facebook um events, LinkedIn events.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

But and then party full. Have you ever been invited to a party full invitation? Never a popular, more popular in the cities than in two arbors, but um it is like a uh it's a mix between like an app and a group chat.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

So it um it feels a little more neighborly than a oh sure. However, it's the B2B play doesn't the the business partyful doesn't Is it different than like next door?

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Like the next door app where it's kind of neighborly. It's not an event thing, but partyful is more human to human, I guess you could say it.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Okay, sure. Less less of a platform to me. Yeah. But yeah, and then there's um there's like there's a nonprofit-based event ticketing platform that gives back um humantics.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Oh, sure, sure, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Um but we're really we're really happy on Eventbrite. And as we've ensured that our events are compliant and in continue to make sure that our events are compliant, then there's less risk with using Eventbrite. Right. But when in 2023 and 2024, when we were having samples and things like that at the events. It was a different, it was a different game.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Different game when we were running. Right. Um, so I what where I wanted to go with that was I wanted you, you said we got a couple events coming up. We have Canaconnect Brainerd uh here at the end of July. We have Canna Connect Duluth coming up uh mid-October. Like let's let's un let's let's open those up a little bit. Let's unpack those a little bit. So let's talk Canna Connect Brainerd, right? You concepted this thing that is beyond the traditional cannabis industry conference, which we're no stranger to those. We host, throw the official after parties, the unofficial after parties, the late light night parties, whatever you want to call it, for Lucky Leaf, Nekan, Canacon. Can a Connect Brainerd harkens a little bit back to the OG Canna Connect one, two, three, four days, right? A little bit with some of our new age education platforming, paneling, talking about like our Canna Connect with metric event where you were like, hey, we're not just gonna do a panel of like six people, Spence, you gotta moderate it. I'm like, sick, but it's gonna be different. We're gonna have one person in, then we're gonna have two, then we're gonna have four, then we're gonna switch out to and bring two others in and have this like round robin, like bang it out thing. Like the conversation is always flowing, it's never stale. It's not just one mic, one person presentation deck behind me, 60 minutes, platform, go.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yeah. I mean, that was that would be an event that's hard to duplicate. The can of connect with Metric United. Yes. I mean, we could do it again in December. Metric would have to call us back. But like uh do business with people that call you back. And you we only do business with people who call us back. Literally. So that idea was great, and I'm glad we did it. I still don't fully know how we're gonna do the panelist stuff. Sure, sure, sure. The biggest thing that we've accomplished recently is that we've secured all four pods.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

And these community pods that you developed. You developed this idea. A room within a room.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

So it's it's a it's how these national shows, you've got these large, way too big expo halls, and then you have these small, super underattended breakout rooms, and they're too far apart, and there's not enough people there to justify all the space. And so then you end up missing out, and the panels aren't recorded, so you then can't go back and watch them. Right. So there's like an element of FOMO, but then they don't do a good enough job marketing their own expos so that people don't show up, and there's really not necessarily FOMO. The only people that get FOMO are the people that are in the industry, that are connected, that scramble to put on something to build within their the larger rate trade show, but then the attendees aren't there. And so you end up organizing with people, but you don't get what you wanted out of it because it's not that well attended. And that's how that's that's how these shows have been for the last year.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Yeah. And now, granted, and we I do have to preface with or tail that with those things work to the degree that they do. And also we have to give a lot of kudos to those types of events because we as Canna Connect have directly attached like a barnacle on ship to them. And they have heavily benefited Canna Connect, regardless if they work for people, they don't work for people, they're heavily attended, they're not attended, the breakout rooms are far away, they're not recorded, say lovey. Right? That's why Canna Connect Brainerd, on the other hand, is a spin on the whole idea, and that's where the community pods came in, right? Connect, educate, learn, grow, four brands per pod, the sweet six team.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

And it's curated within the room so that you can hang out there for a while and you're not just talking to one brand at a time and then awkwardly walking past the next brand and then you know, yeah, because we're not creating competition competition within the space, we're creating curation, and we're going back to what we held our hats on in 2023, which was connect, educate, learn, and grow. Getting back to that expo and showcase, we've moved off of the showcase. We've heavily considered how can we showcase new cultivars and new cultivators. However, we're not there yet. We don't believe that the market needs that. And we're not ready to hold the cannabis events license and go all in on flour and the inevitable sales that come with that. So, what this is, is one room. If you think back to the early days of the wilderness, the expo was in one place, and then the panels were in another room with uh the room that we're utilizing, the Northern Pacific Center. We're building four additional rooms inside of the one room. Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

With these movable walls. They're like 12-foot walls or like eight feet tall. So they're like hybrid rooms within this event space. There's like these four pod rooms, but yet they're not like a breakout room that is really, really far away. And you have to go walk to it and you miss other things going on. And we have it as a traveling sort of circus kind of idea where each sort of like makeshift room doesn't have like four pop-up tents for each brand, and they have their tables and they're standing behind their tables and they're, you know, doing the song and dance like a regular trade show. No, no, no, we've said no tents, no big tables, no tablecloths. We're gonna take the two template tables, we're gonna smash them against the wall. Sure, you can put your stickers out and your pamphlets, and you can put your you know, retractable stand-up banner up if you want, for sure. But when you come into that pod room and there's a couple high-top pub tables you can stand around, the conversations are meant to be more intimate, right? You talk about the cult, you called them community pods for a reason because that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to build community. It's not standing behind the table and just watching people walk by. Yeah, you can take a Tootsie roll, no worries. Yeah, you can have a sticker, that's cool, right? This is inviting conversation. And then to take it to the next phase of what this whole thing is about is yes, we're platforming these pods, but then during the day, we're taking a whole pod and we're putting them out in the main part of the room, which is literally just behind these stanchion walls, open air, industrial building. You can hear everything happening. So even if you are in a pod talking to a pod group, there is a panel going on in the main portion of the area of the room that one of the pods is out there up on stage, being moderated by myself, Natalie, Luke, Elizabeth Sage, uh, of the Gangier Guild. And that panel is happening, and everyone in the space and place can hear it. It's not gonna be like overly loud, you know, it's not gonna be a concert.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah, we want 150 people there. That's that's our goal. We're halfway there, we're gonna get there. Uh, I heard from somebody yesterday that they're coming from like hours and hours away within Minnesota. They just got their transporter license. Oh, yeah. And they're sending their uh team. And so, like, and today we saw a pre-licensed group sign up and they're preparing to get their license for hash making. And and this event is in Brainerd, right? So if you're with if you're within a drive of Brainerd and you're a pre-licensee or a licensee, like you should be attending this event. And we have great partners. We have the Connect Pod, which is Comcast Business, Curate, Duchy, and Soul Link. We have the Educate Pod, which is Surfside, Thrive AgriTech. We have Corey Lake from World Insurance. Gotta love Corey Lake. As well as surprises with Corey Lake. Don't tell everything. Yeah, no, there's always always a good pop-up somewhere with Corey Lake. You mentioned the Gangier Guild, they'll be a part of the Educate Pod as well. Elizabeth Sage. Elizabeth Sage. You know, then we go into the Learn Pod. And there's a lot of folks that could fit into the Learn Pod because there's been a lot of learnings.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

It's pretty much all anybody's been doing right now. Like we like Jacob Felt, Frostbite Dispensary, was just on the cast, just launched. And uh literally, I listened to the all, it's all just like about his learnings and his trials and tribulations over the last couple of years to connect with humans and cultivators and growers and then to open his dispensary, etc. But you already impacted that conversation with him.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

I mean, at some point, we'd love to have dispensary operators a part of these conversations. In fact, we do. We have Tom Smith from Trailhead Trailhead Cannabis Go.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Trailhead Tom.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Trailhead community, man. Tom is building something special up north. Uh, find your trail. We have Ranger Flint. Ranger Flint. Ranger Flint will be on a panel. And if you haven't met Tom, then is a reason why you should come to Canada Connect Brainer. Really, like the the Learn panel. If you can only make it for a half day, make sure you're there. Uh one o'clock, get a little bit of lunch. Panel starts at Taco Bar, yeah. Taco Bar. Yeah. Lunch from 12 to 1.30. Make sure you get your ticket, make it to lunch, meet some folks, come sit for the learn panel, and then the breakouts from there are going to be great. So we have learn and grow. We have uh Beyond the Pines Tax and Accounting joining us. We have Trailhead, Cannabis Company. Yep. We also have Adams Independent Tessing. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

That was our 16th.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

They made it sweet. Yes, they made they made the bracket. Um and and then who else is joining us in Learn? Why can't I remember? We have the phone a friend. The Grow panel is much easier for me to remember. Yeah. We'll bring it full circle. We wanted the OCM. We wanted a lot of folks in the in the learn panel. Uh no, it's okay. Keep going. The we're gonna solve this right here. It's Trailhead, Beyond the Pines, Adams Independent Testing, and Local 49. Ah.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Oh, that okay. Of course, those guys are gonna give us hell now.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

The silent, this the silent but useful folks from Local 49. They're not outwardly talking about cannabis. They have a membership meeting tonight, and they're they serve 15,000 members across multiple industries. Cannabis is a small part of what they do right now, but it's important to talk to local 49 if you're planning on growing within the cannabis industry, within the space. They can provide benefits, they can provide representation. And Benjamin Mike probably will never watch this episode, but we love we're gonna show them the clip, though. Yeah, we should clip it out. Of course, we couldn't do this without local 49. Literally. Uh grow what literally grow wise, though, it's it's awesome. It's lakely cultivation. I learned from Travis earlier today, they have one of the fifth largest cultivation facilities in America. Whoa.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Top five? Top five sizes. 23rd state, top five. No, USA. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Like 23rd state, top five in the US.

unknown 17:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Largest cultivation facilities. Of all the time in space, all these other cultivation facilities have been alive. And now there's we are. And with Virginia, there's 25.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Whoa. So now half the states have either a medical or a recreational cannabis program.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Look at that.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

We're at the tipping point. Uh TSR Grow, Lake Leaf cultivation, what rebates? What? Rebates? And the last grower is we got lake leaf cultivation in there.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

North Star Cult and Fake. Another new group. Yes. Yes. Helping out the crew up and brainerd. Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

It's just if you need an example of can North Star cultivation help your business, look no further than Trailhead Canvas Company. Yeah. Nolan Russell is on site there. The Russell brothers. Helping them through the first grow. I want a sidebar. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Because I just was thinking about Nolan and his brother, the Russell brothers. And what I haven't told them yet, hopefully they're watching this randomly. That'd be sick. Yeah. But I want to tell them in real life here, coming up in a couple weeks, that my first name is Spencer. My last name is Plusell. And my dad wanted to name me Russell. And my mom was like, Russell Pussell? Yeah. That's that's what we're gonna do here?

SPEAKER_01 19:11

How about how about no? You wouldn't have made it to the age that you were when I met you had you been named Russell Pussell. Probably not. You would have died.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

But now nobody can forget my last name. Because nobody knows how to pronounce my last name. But if you just remember Russell.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

I'm just wondering, has anyone ever thought your last name was Russell? Ah like Russell?

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Russell?

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Maybe. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I just think like that's a terrible name, but I mean good good on.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

But it's a great last name for guys like Nolan and Brandon at you know, North Star.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Like rhyming names like uh you're really taking a chance if your name rhymes.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Yeah, yeah. It's kind of like having two first names as your first and last name.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Right. Yeah. Yeah. So Nolan and Brandon from North Star Cultivation Supply are really the local plug. And they've built a great network of cultivation brands like Athena, Fluence, Cocoa Core, and they can deliver products for cultivators across the Midwest. They're doing it in Minnesota, they're doing it in states uh outside of Minnesota, they're Colorado, they're they're growing a footprint and they've got a great network. So working with North Star Cultivation Supply is really a long time in the making. They were interested in Canacon after party, but it wasn't the right fit for them. Yeah, not yet. Canaconnect Brainerd is a fit for those that are still trying to figure it out. They're still working on getting off the ground. And that's why we have pre-licensee tickets as well as licensee tickets, as well as GA. But once the GA sells out, we're gonna start selling tickets.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Yep, it's gotta go up, and that's the game. Like, to be completely honest, you know, people ask us, like, well, actually, people don't really ask. Some ask, you're like, well, why are you going there? Like, you guys are pretty much concentrated, you know, down in Twin Cities Metro. Like, isn't that? But what's interesting is a lot of people don't know, unless you really, really do know us, is that like Steven and Natalie are down here in the Twin Cities, but I myself am up on the North Shore and Luke is up in Brainerd. So, like, we do have a good portion of the northern area covered right now, which is why you're seeing us activate. Can I connect Brainerd? Can I connect Duluth this year? Because we need to, there's there's a there's a whole area. Northern Minnesota is huge, and southern Minnesota is huge, yeah. Right? Just wait. 2027's coming in hot and fast. Yeah, you know, southern activation in Minnesota is on the docket. That's what this team is starting to concept and conceive. But more so what I was getting at is that people are like, thank you. Thank you for coming north. Because some people that live Brainerd, Duluth, North Shore, et cetera, they'll drive a couple hours, come down to the Twin Cities when there's events, whether it be a Canaconnect event or some cannabis related event. But for the people that it takes them four to six hours to get right to the Twin Cities, those people never show up to events. Down there. So Brainerd is halfway up.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Brainerd is central Minnesota. We've adopted up north because it's convenient and it's kitschy to say I'm up north because there's beautiful cabins and beautiful lakes in Brainerd and the Brainerd area. Brainerd is not north. No.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Compared to Brainerd is central. How far does it take you to get to Brainerd? It takes me three hours to get to Brainerd from the North Shore to travel all the way across.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Yep. And if you go all the way up to Bemidji, oh yeah. Uh that's that's Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids has a has a growing cannabis base. There's there's businesses. There will be a Canaconnect Grand Rapids.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Keep going. Keep going all the way up and keep going. World Coast from there. Well, I mean, like international, you know, and falls, etc., but then go all the way over to go to like Moorhead. Morehead. And then as soon as our neighbors to the west, you know, Fargo, et cetera, that game will slowly trickle.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

We've talked about Canaconnect Moorhead. It is a hike. Yeah. We cannot be designing Canna Connect Moorhead from the Twin Cities. Right. Which is why we're so happy to partner with Adams Independent Testing. Yes. And they are going to be a great partner and they're going to serve the greater Northwestern market. They're understanding that there aren't a lot of cannabis businesses up there. But every month and every year forward, there will be more cannabis businesses for the next couple of years.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

And there's a lot of cultivators and a lot of growers north.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Right? Like there's there's going to be less retail shops. Just nationally because of population. There are going to be dispensaries and retail locations up north. On highways. Yes. But for the most part, like it's going to be a lot of cultivators and wholesale, you know, growers.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah, you'll have your town cannabis store like Tyuna Cannabis. Yep. Coda's opening something inhibit.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Who do I need to stop by that's closer to Mora? Well, uh That you told me about Northern Lights? Northern Cultivate Northern. Isn't that who's nearly? Yeah, Northern Lights is in Mora. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they came to one of our last. Didn't they come to Evolving? I don't know. It doesn't matter either, right? But like they they attended and like, I was like, oh my gosh, I was literally just in your neck of the woods and I didn't stop by. And they were like, oh.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Right. Oh, I didn't know that story. Swing through. Coconut cannabis is in Bemidji. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Great.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

And then, you know, we were at the the tribal uh businesses and the tribal lands are going to be great places for cannabis events. Yeah. We got to experience that at Anong Dispensary and on 710. Carleton on 710 at Black Bear Casino. So literally right behind Black Bear Casino.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Yeah. Off of 35W going north.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

But then they also have a dispensary somewhere else. Close by there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

So that I stopped at. So that's just north in Cloquet. Cloquet. Yep. So that's their like dispensary dispensary. And then they're going to add Duluth. And then they're going to add one in Duluth as well, right behind Fond Duluth, their casino, downtown Duluth. Wow. So they'll have that shop, which will be a dispensary, then they'll have their shop in Cloquet. And then they also have their tasting room dispensary and lounge right by Black Bear, which is such an amazing thing that that's happening. And such it's going to carve a path that I believe will be a level of an adoption for what other space. And I understand the in the Minnesota Indoor Clean Air Act. I get that. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

But tribes can get around it if they're on sovereign land.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Yeah, yeah, yes. Yes, of course. But I think that model that they're launching could help incubate how to do it beyond. Wow. And how it works. And I don't know how it's going to work, but that's the best part about.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

If you're going to it's almost like hemp, where the the lounge is the Anong dispensary and tasting lounge is showcasing anyone who's listening and those who are going to still find out that you can have a safe, clean, and enjoyable cannabis consumption indoors without violating people's personal space. Right. I I don't even know.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Full stop, like period.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Like hemp showed folks that k THC is okay in small doses. Um these don't have to be giant places for them to be effective. Right. They're like you need a pickleball warehouse. Yeah, yeah, this isn't pickleball. And and and these tribes are there's a lot we can learn from the tribes. Some of them have shown that their initial dispensary is just a small building. Literally. And they're selling flour and they're not carrying a bunch of other stuff. Yep. Uh you know, we're working with Lake Leaf and they've just added gummies. But you know, for a while they were selling vapes and and and uh flour, and mostly flour. So I what I like about the Minnesota's cannabis market is that they've given a chance for people to get their foot in the door with a micro license. Yeah. And you don't need to utilize all 5,000 square feet. You can start with 1,500 square feet and reach out to CE if you're in Excel Energy Territory. But like you can double and then go to 5,000. And then now with the latest laws, since I've talked to you on the show, like there's a path for micros to convert to mesos. There's a path for mesos to convert to macros. Yep. And they're all still under 50,000 square feet. So they're not like massive facilities. Right. Now, we were talking about the tribe. The tribes don't have that same, uh, they don't have to adhere to that as well. Yeah. Um, but we've also seen thus far that just because you can have a huge cultivation doesn't mean you're gonna grow the best cannabis.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Definitely not. Yeah. Um, so all right, let's let's transition a little bit uh from you know unpacking our events. Like Duluth is like I said, we've said Duluth is kind of on docket.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Um well that's that's because you did such a good job coordinating networking on the North Shore.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Cannabis and community, baby.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Tell us about that event.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Yeah, so we held last year, September 17th, 2025, an event in Two Harbors, Minnesota at Castle Danger Brewing Company on their patio, and we lucked out. September, mid-late back half of September up on the North Shore can be 37 degrees and chilly and rainy. Uh we lucked out, got a beautiful day.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

And shit, I think it literally was what, five to eight o'clock? Five, six, seven, eight. Was it uh three hours? It was it was September 17th. September 17th. September 17th. The leaves and the colors were all changing, everybody comes up to the north shore to visit that. But we held this thing. The whole idea and concept was it of it was how do we activate, how do we harvest a community of like-minded individuals in the cannabis space up north, up north, on the north shore specifically, between Duluth and Grand Maray. And yes, of course, inland as well, or if other people from around the area. Sure, we had people drive over from Brainerd, that's three hours. We have people come up from the Twin Cities to get to two harbors, that's also three hours.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Being that it was a free event.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

That the percentage of people that attended the networking on the North Shore event actually showed up.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

So at Ganon Connect, normally we think what, 40, 50 percent attendance rate based on RSVP is pretty solid.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Half the people don't show up if there's a free ticket.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Okay, this was a free event on the North Shore. We had 70 to 80 percent attendance rate of RSVPs.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Yeah, it was way better. And and we've since had conversations with Park State Bank, and there's a confidence that the Duluth market is missing community.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

They're ready. They're ready for an activation. They've had activations, right? Legacy, cannabis, Northern Haze Festival, and and Bent Paddle have held the Northern Haze Festival for a couple of years. Uh uh rest in peace, you know, no longer. It's coming back. Oh, you've got insider information. It's coming back. Look at this guy, knows everything, apparently, which is good because he's Stephen Eigaman. Yeah. Can I connect? But he is the Canon Connect. First, there's Canon Connect Duluth. First, there's Canon Connect Duluth on October 15th, 2026, coming up in a short few months. And we have a lot of ideas, but we know that it's going to run the gamut of again, cannabis and community, because that's what Duluth and the Twin Ports and the North Shore area is hungry for. They're hungry for that level of community activity involvement.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

And this time we're going to have vendors. Yes. But we're not going to have an unlimited amount of vendors. We're going to have select curated vendors. If you're interested in learning more about Canon Connect Duluth, reach out to one of us and get in touch.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

Get in our DNs.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Lighting growing. We definitely want to cover that. There's a huge homegrown market in Minnesota, especially in the North. We believe that we can still tap into that. We can't forget about the homegrowers. Yep. A cultivation celebration. Celebration. Cultivation celebration. Expo. All right. Well, if you're still watching this. Crack a green standard. If you haven't picked up a green standard yet, reach out to our website. You can find where they're sold. You can get them at Earl Giles every Wednesday at Tana Club. Yeah. Tonight we're going. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

If you're still watching, say hi to Spencer at Tana Club. I'm the Tana Club at Earl Giles tonight. I'll be there slamming some green standards in a very, very conscious way.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Well, this was great. I'm looking forward to Brainerd. Get it. Um, I'm looking forward to Duluth as well. It's good to be back on the show. Like it feels like, you know, forever sometimes. But it we're so part of it, right? All of this is one. But like to be here, sitting here, chopping it up about what we've got going on, what we've done, what we're doing. I fucking love it, dude.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. This is your first time in studio this year.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

Whew.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

And we're already at the And even at Lucky Leaf, even at Lucky Leaf, it was only for like 15 minutes. Yeah, it was it was just tight. I'm looking forward to Jake Gleason from Dutch E. Yes. Very good. He's his um headshot that we need, yeah. Let's take it from Mesfin. Oh, sure. All of his other ones, he's a professional goalkeeper.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Yes. All right, we'll get it. Mesfin's got us.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Uh, huge thank you to our partners with Canna Connect. We have an amazing lineup. Connect, educate, learn, and grow. It's not about the brands, it's about the people. Spencer television. And it's human to human. It's one room, one space. There's plenty of space. There's plenty of parking.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

We're going to hang out afterwards. There's going to be a seafood broil at notch eight. Yeah. Which we're not hosting that. That's just like what's already happening on Thursday night at notch eight. Seafood broil and live music. So we're all going to go kick it for the rest of the evening. Come up for the whole weekend. Brainerd Lakes at the end of July. It's going to be beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

It is. It is. I'm thinking about bringing my whole family. It's going to be it's going to be a fun time. Let's get up to Brainerd, July 30th. Uh, tickets on Eventbrite. We'll see you there. Cheers.