Text messages and emails to High Times officials and APCO Med, which partnered with High Times to present the Oklahoma Cannabis Cup, for comment about the first day were not returned as of Saturday evening.

For those who got in line early or purchased VIP tickets, though, the event — despite the heat and limited water rations — was a sign Oklahoma’s new medical cannabis industry is one to watch.

“It means we’ve put ourselves on the map, I think. You go out there and you see a ton of growers and dispensaries that have been working really hard,” Cunningham said.

MacDonald said he was pleased with the turnout and the variety of vendors who set up booths or tents in the Cannabis Village, which is only accessible to Oklahoma medical cannabis licensees, and said “exotic” strains of cannabis flower were of particular interest.

High Times has said it had “hundreds” of vendors signed up but said on its website that it does not publicize an exact number of how many are in attendance.

“I’m from Washington. That’s where I was born. So they started with medical pretty early,” MacDonald said. “And then once it went recreational, medical kind of went AWOL there.” He said he plans to open a dispensary in Lawton this fall.