Wisconsin Cannabis Expo Brings Together Movers and Shakers in State's Cannabis Industry — Cannabis

Tickets are on sale now for the 2021 Wisconsin Cannabis Expo, presented by the Shepherd Express. The event takes place in Milwaukee on Saturday, Oct. 2 at the Wisconsin Center, Halls B and C. There will be an additional Expo in Madison on Saturday, Dec. 4 at the Alliant Energy Center.

The inaugural Wisconsin Cannabis Expo in February 2020 attracted more than 2,000 attendees and 150 diverse exhibitors that included players from all facets of the cannabis industry— retailers, farmers, growing materials suppliers, scientists and researchers, packaging and marketing companies, and legal and tax accounting experts.

This business-to-business and business-to-consumer expo also includes speakers and panel discussions on topics covering legalization, medical benefits of cannabis and entrepreneurship. All products sampled and sold at the expo are legal in the state of Wisconsin.

Jill Rowe of Hazy Dayz, one of the sponsors of this year’s event, anticipates a tremendous amount of interest this year. She says events such as the expo serve as an opportunity to educate people in a world of information—and misinformation—overload.

“Cannabis information will be given to them more direct, in person. When trying to learn about cannabis alone and online,

there can be an overload of information that may be hard to sort through. In some instances, you also may run into conflicting or opinionated facts online. The seminars and vendors at the expo will be able to answer specific questions that attendees may have,” Rowe says.

SHARING AND EDUCATING

In addition to providing an educational opportunity for consumers, Stephanie Lembke of Canna Bloom Farmacy, a vendor at this year’s expo, says it is also a great opportunity for those in the cannabis industry to learn from each other. She’s looking forward to sharing and educating people about a vast array of new, unique products that she will have available.

“There are so many cannabinoids out there other than CBD or Delta 8. My company loves to work with many different, lesser-known cannabinoids, such as CBG or CBC to see how they can help people to live a better life,” she enthuses. “We love to teach people so they are more aware of what is available to them. It will be exciting because the last expo, we did not have Delta 8, and now we do.”

Colin Plant, owner of Canni Hemp Co., one of this year’s sponsors, spoke at the 2020 expo. He says being a part of last year’s event was a great experience in that it allowed members of Wisconsin’s cannabis community to network and share ideas. “We are excited to continue the networking among members of our community and to hopefully continue to find new partners and great brands to work with in the future,” he says.

Plant concurs that in-person events such as the Wisconsin Cannabis Expo provides a forum for people to learn about cannabis directly from people in the industry. “Education has brought us a long way, but we still have a very long way to go. We feel that events like this continue to remove the stigma around cannabis here in Wisconsin,” he says. Confirmed vendors at press time include 420Smokables.com, AAS Design (Advertising Art Studio), All Pack Supply, Badger Labs, Canna Bloom Farmacy, Canna Haus Farms Cannabis Accounting, LLC, Canni Hemp Co., CanniLabs, DynaVap, ePac Flexible Packaging, Farmer Will Allen, Global Organic Distro, Green Haven Fields, Happy Endings No Kill Cat Shelter, Hazy Dayz, Ignite Dispensary, Infinite Vapor & CBD, Kind Oasis, Knuckleheads CBD & Vapes, L.B. White Company, Marsh Castle Cannabis Company, Milwaukee Hemp Company, Presto Labels & Packaging, The Hub Collective Torch CBD, Tree Huggers Co-op, UFCW Local 1473 and WI Hempgineering.

More vendors are expected. For an updated exhibitor list, visit wicannabisexpo.com.

Sheila Julson is a Milwaukeean who writes about food and cannabis for the Shepherd Express.