CannaBash, a cannabis-friendly music festival, has found a permanent home at Field of Greens, an open-air concert space in Baldwin, Michigan. The space’s owner, Connie Maxim-Sparrow, plans to sell alcohol and marijuana at the festival on July 13, 2024.
Maxim-Sparrow purchased Field of Greens with the intention of making it a marijuana and alcohol-friendly venue. She first had the idea to acquire her own venue during CannaBash last year when she contemplated how much she spent on setting up the rented venue. Field of Greens emerged as the perfect home for CannaBash, which she puts on with the help of her event company, Grams & Jams Productions.
While there is a precedent for serving alcohol and marijuana at the same event in Michigan, CannaBash will still be one of the first events to do so. Smoke on the Water Music and Cannabis Festival in Manistee and Arts, Beats & Eats in Royal Oak are two of the other large-scale events that have served alcohol and marijuana, but most mainstream venues do not allow it. With Field of Dreams, Maxim-Sparrow is trying to change that.
“We’re just normalizing and destigmatizing cannabis consumption and alcohol consumption as an experience,” Maxim-Sparrow told the Detroit Free Press. “Whether you consume both or not, we just want to be able to provide everybody legally the recreational choice that they would prefer.” She currently has five events, including CannaBash, lined up for this summer at the venue.
To comply with state regulations for the event, Maxim-Sparrow will have to follow strict rules. A bike rack guarded by security will run down the middle of the 23-acre field, with cannabis vendors on one side and food trucks and alcohol vendors on the other. Maxim-Sparrow has a marijuana event organizer license with the state and will need to obtain a temporary marijuana event license and a temporary liquor license through Grams & Jams Productions’ non-profit arm. With these permits, she will be able to sell cannabis and alcohol at each of this summer’s five events.
“We are at the behest of the municipality and where they allow us to do these things,” she commented, adding, “I don’t think that cannabis should be shoved in a corner or treated like some ugly thing that’s happening.”
Despite the restrictions from the state, CannaBash 2024 promises to be even more successful than last year’s festival. CannaBash 2023 featured rapper Ludacris as a headliner and was attended by approximately 12,000 people. Field of Greens can hold up to 25,000, so Maxim-Sparrow is ready for a larger crowd. The artists performing at CannaBash 2024 have not been announced yet.
The other events spaced throughout the summer are equally exciting. Bikes, Buds, and Brews kick off the season on May 18, followed by Grams & Jams Country Night on June 14. CannaBash will be on July 13, Bluegrass Night on August 23, and Croptoberfest closing out the year on September 21. Tickets for all events are currently on sale through Grams & Jams Productions’ website.
