By King Gregory Headley The First
What On The Revel’s Revelry Festival Means To NYC’s Cannabis Community And The World
Friday and Saturday, October 4 & 5th, 2024, were days to remember! The Revelry Cannabis Festival, hosted by the cannabis industry education and events powerhouse On The Revel, convened at Pier 36 in downtown New York City. This vibrant celebration of plant-based culture connected professionals for networking, expert insights, and brand showcases. For the first time, the festival featured a free event paired with the Revelry Buyers’ Club, a unique B2B industry gathering that allows Empire State licensees to get down to business. The Buyers’ Club took place at the pier on Friday, October 4th, setting the stage for a dynamic weekend. By Saturday, festivalgoers were ready to let loose for the Revelry Festival, which headlined the talented Joey Bada$$. The combination of education, networking, and live entertainment made for an unforgettable experience, marking a significant moment in New York City’s cannabis scene!
What Happened At The 2024 Revelry Cannabis Festival? Music, Icons, And More
For me, this would be my second Revelry event. The one last year at Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood was phenomenal. With a crowd of over 2000 attendees and sponsored by technology giant Weedmaps, the 2024 extravaganza would surpass even the glory of its predecessor.
I arrived at Pier 36 around 4PM. As I scurried down the path from the West Side Highway, following signs that read, “Revelry Dropoff Here! NO PARKING!,” I could feel the music as it sent shockwaves through the air. Some of my favorite Hip-Hop artists were in attendance - Revelry events frequently include presence from cultural icons who cross over into cannabis. I caught Buckshot Shorty and Shiest Bubz, the latter a featured panelist. There were also some larger-than-life attendees from outside music, particularly NBA All Star-turned-cannabis entrepreneur Carmelo Anthony whose cannabis brand STAYME7O is coming soon to the Big Apple.
Who Were Speakers And Sponsors At The 2024 Revelry Cannabis Festival?
Headlining artists for this year included Joey Bada$$, Kota The Friend, and Odalys. 2024’s keynote speaker would be Brooklyn-born community leader and radio personality Angela Yee; other onstage notables included Hip-Hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy, dead prez’s Umi RBG, Precious Osagie-Erese of PRECIOUS Canna Co., “Hawaii Mike” Salman of Chef For Higher, and many more. This year was clearly bigger than ever, with a plethora of sponsors that included Kushy Punch, Brass Knuckles, Flav, HPI Canna, To The Moon, Curaleaf, The Travel Agency, Doobie, Nabis, Mfused, MyHi, SuperFire, Dutchie, Hudson Cannabis, MFNY, Bodega Boyz, Dime, Hawthorne, Florist Farms, Hara, Kiva, Jetty Extracts, Wana Brands, Biotrack Alleaves, Revert Cannabis, PlugPlay, Gotham, GreenThumb, Sensi, Grön, PharmaCann, Naturae, Glenna’s, Zoe Wilder, The Product Agent, Feuerstein Kulick, Foy, Leal, and Trends LIC.
What Does Revelry Mean To The New York Cannabis Community?
But rather than get the scoop on panel discussions, I chose a different approach. I wanted to know what Revelry meant to the attendees, vendors, and organizers. Making my way through the warehouse structures surrounded by EMT and ambulance vehicles - one can never be too safe - I found myself at the VIP entrance and stopped by a guard. Upon receiving approval, I was admitted into the event. Music blared as I strove to interview participants, vendors, and artists.
PAX
Walking the event floor, I bumped into an old acquaintance of mine, Stone Swiess, Sales Manager at PAX @pax_official. When asked what Revelry meant to him, he had this to say: “These last two days, man, it's been just everybody, in the same place all at once! It's been nothing but good energy… Like there's a lot going on in the industry and everybody's really trying to make it happen in New York. But it feels like we're all on the same page and really trying to collaborate. It's not about cutting anybody else down, it's about building everybody up.”
Grön
Banton Green of Grön @eatgron also shared his views on the event: “It's an amazing experience to be able to connect with the community and see all the pop ups and bridges that everyone has been able to build from the likes of [On The Revel founders] Jacobi Holland and Lulu Tsui [to Director of Events] Saki Fenderson, Kevin, and the whole team. I just want to say thank you for this opportunity… More importantly I think it's great to see how everyone was able to transition from the street, ‘the illicit market,’ to the legal market. It’s amazing seeing so many people that either had smoke shops or trap shops transition and get licenses from cultivation, to microbusinesses, to processing businesses… and create a brand, and also it's a pleasure being able to meet everyone here, connect with them and continue to grow and learn every single day.”
Bodega Boyz
As the evening progressed, I sampled some of the best flower and hash the community had to offer. I then met Kenny from Bodega Boyz @bodegaboyzny, who had this to say: “This is my first time at Revelry. As a company, this is our second time. Our venture is getting bigger and bigger… Blow out! Yesterday was great. Today was great. Great time. Great experience!”
Ganja Pigs
Despite the music making interviewing a challenge, Jonathan Rader, founder of the Ganja Pigs brand @ganjapigsnyc, approached me, informing me that he has a bunch of surprises in store for the community in the coming months.
“This is my third Revelry,” he said. “The revelry to me means innovation and cannabis business. The evolution of the cannabis boom in New York, because that's where everybody is now, connecting the dots.”
Lord Sko
I managed to make my way backstage to meet some of the artists. One down-to-earth performer, Washington Heights native Lord Sko, stepped out of the VIP section and gave me his thoughts on the event, with his own self-introduction sounding a bit like one of his raps.
“It’s Lord Sko, The Newport Lords Jeff Hardy Fleezus Christ, coming at you live from The Revelry Festival, here at Pier 36, in New York City,” he declared. “Now I'm saying, I've been at Revelry a few times. They always take care of ya boy! Always show love to the kid. Always good guys! I'm saying we out here celebrating for the love of cannabis and music and culture; all of that, man. Salute! My IG is @LordSko, follow me and tune in to what's happening next!”
What Does Revelry Mean To On The Revel? Chief Impact Officer Jason Starr Speaks
Finally, as the show wound down, I was able to corner Jason Starr @jasonestarr, Chief Impact Officer of On The Revel, for an organizer’s insight into the festival. I learned more about On The Revel’s mission and purpose in our 1-minute, 48-second conversation than I had in the past year! For instance, the On The Revel team is big on community service and philanthropic endeavors to ensure that legacy entrepreneurs are not left behind as New York’s cannabis market moves toward becoming a billion-dollar legal industry.
“Listen, we just wrapped Revelry in 2024; it was an amazing, amazing event,” Jason stated. “[On The Revel] started as just a little company in 2016, simply as a way for us to connect the community, the legacy-operating seasoned folks who are now here bringing your cannabis to the legal market. [We gave them] the information they needed, starting as a tech meetup group. [We had] about 150 people at our first event, just interested in learning about cannabis.”
From then to now, On The Revel’s audience has expanded by over 1000 percent, affecting and uplifting countless lives. Seeing what Revelry meant to Jon, Stone, Banton, and so many others inspired me to keep moving forward with my own endeavors in cannabis. Hearing how Jacobi, Lulu, Jason and the team started 8 years ago was the icing on the cake. I can only suspect that Revelry - already one of the seminal events in New York - will soon become one of the world’s biggest cannabis community events in history.
For more about On The Revel, visit ontherevel.com. To learn more about Revelry, and upcoming festivities, visit revelryny.com.
(C) Honeysuckle Media, Inc.
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Written By:
A twin flame, a father, a yogi, a writer, a journalist, a skateboarder, and an entrepreneur. King Gregory, also known as Seven or Skateboard, spends most of his time giving back to the communities he once hustled in helping others and mentoring at-risk youth. A Contributing Editor for New York University's V.O.I.C.E., his writing has also been regularly featured in Washington Square News. Among many other leadership roles in the cannabis community, he is the founder of The Chillum Through Our Eyes educational series.
@kinggregory444 (IG)
@the_chillum_through_our_eyes (IG)
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Featured image: The Revelry Cannabis Festival at Pier 36 in New York City (C) Honeysuckle Media, Inc.
