What went wrong bringing the Cannabis Cup to Pueblo?

Blame the no go on a late start and a series of missteps.

In a month, Pueblo County went from being the new home for the High Times Cannabis Cup to not being the new home for the Cannabis Cup. The cup will move to California and Pueblo looks like it missed the big one.

Except this one isn’t Pueblo’s fault. Let’s work through this one.

Originally the Trans-High Corp., High Times, said they ran out of time — I’ll get to that — but then the Denver Post alluded to “more regulatory issues.” Whatever the issues were, the Denver Post just threw them out there and didn’t give specifics.

What the Denver Post included was a curious quote from High Times managing editor Dan Skye, “The simple fact is that, regardless of the tremendous strides that our community has made in legalizing cannabis, there’s still a long way to go […] It’s been said: ‘Legalization of cannabis is a marathon — not a sprint.”

So the cup didn’t come to Pueblo because of onerous regulations?

It’s an interesting quote that shifts the blame to Pueblo County, who as of March 6, was “proceeding with the review of this application in the same way we proceed with all SEP [Special Event] applications,” Pueblo County Information Paris Carmichael emailed in a statement to PULP.

If you work through the back and forth of the application, it becomes clear that delays in the permitting were inevitable because the application was vague, had the wrong organizer and originally didn’t mention this was for the Cannabis Cup.

Pueblo County Planning and Development permitting process works this way — the county supplies a checklist of items needed on a permit and sign offs by required from various agencies — such as security by the Pueblo Sheriff’s Department, fire protection from the Pueblo Rural Fire Department and traffic from Highway Patrol. The applicant is required to submit a full bid to the county, with agency sign-offs, that they are supposed to arrange themselves, no less than 45 days prior to the event.

Initially, on February 4, 2016, while the Cannabis Cup was seeking approval from Adams County, Tommy Giodone, CEO and Owner of Bands in the Backyard, submitted an application for a “Spring Festival” to be held April 16–18 at his venue. There was no mention this was for a marijuana event or mention of Cannabis Cup, Trans-High or High Times.

From there, agencies seemed confused what this festival was for. Pueblo Rural Fire Department called it “music festival.”

The Colorado State Patrol referred to it as a music festival in their denial letter for the event.

Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office didn’t know this application was for Cannabis Cup because on February 10, they wrote to Joan Armstrong, Pueblo County Department of Planning and Development, “It is unclear who the event promoters are.”

They go so far as to call the description for the event “nebulous” since the event conflicted with their April 20, 2016 law enforcement operations.

It’s understandable Trans-High may not have wanted Adams County to be aware they were pursuing another venue to host the event but multiple agencies were unaware what the event would be.

This ambiguity led to delays, a change of dates and ultimately Trans-High pulling their application.

So what were the onerous regulations?

The main sticking point wasn’t so much a conflict of marijuana laws and festivals, but more that Trans-High was not seeking the correct permits to distribute, sell and trade marijuana related products.

Carmichael said that SEP applications would have to “include obtaining any required licenses to sell or distribute food, alcohol or marijuana.”

And Trans-High didn’t meet with the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office according to a February 29, letter from the Sheriff Kirk Taylor to Joan Armstrong.

Losing out on the Cannabis Cup cost Pueblo and Colorado money along with a blemished reputation in the industry but regulations weren’t to blame this time. Event organizers simply started too late.