Reggae on the River drew over 6000 visitors to Cook’s Camp along the South Fork of the Eel River over the weekend. In its 35th year, Reggae on the River made history by announcing on 4/20/2024 that legal cannabis sales would be allowed at the event for the first time thanks to a partnership with Cannifest. When I first reported on this development, I received a foreshadowing comment from Aili Seeds:

“selling weed at reggae is like selling sand at the beach.”

I don’t know what I expected coming up, having heard about this event for years but never having been able to attend before, I was honored to be able to report from on the ground. BIG Big ups to Hot Milk Entertainment and the Mateel Community Center for bringing this event back in all its glory and even trying to modernize it for California’s Post Prohibition “legal” landscape.

Reggae on the River Cannabis Zone

I wasn’t attending to sell weed, or even buy weed, though. Like all who showed up to the Reggae on the River Cannifest zone – it was a bold show of support in the future of a legal cannabis industry in California that brings legal cannabis consumption to places it has never EVER been before. I’ll be straight up – the historical nature of this occurrence wasn’t lost on me. Or maybe I just caught the exact right vibes from the crowd.

I showed up with a table lended by the school’s Social Work department, a tablecloth that said Cal Poly Humboldt Cannabis Studies B.A., highly popular ginger chews, and some flyers to promote the program. Cannifest and Reggae on the River had generously offered free tables to the Cannabis Studies programs at Humboldt’s two public higher education institutions: Cal Poly Humboldt and College of the Redwoods. This, I was to learn, was part of the Reggae on the River spirit of barter, trade, and local community uplifting which was moving to be a part of.

Whenever I was outside the Canna-zone, I’d tell people to “meet me by the boof” and I’d be so happy to see them when they showed up. Shoutout to Ganjier instructor Aaron and his wife for stopping by. It seemed that my dual quest that at first seemed perhaps impossible to execute…man a booth and check out the artists being interviewed in the KMUD press tent… might actually be working out. The coolest thing was, I could hear the music from anywhere, so I spent most of my time at the Department of Cannabis Control sanctioned Canna-Zone and will focus my reporting on that experience.

The Cannabis Zone was sparsely attended. Out of the over 6000 attendees to Reggae on the River, barely a few hundred walked through the Cannifest Zone, which was tucked away in a location that nobody could see or would come across naturally unless they committed to finding every vendor. If by some miracle an attendee did walk up to the completely enclosed fenced-in area, they could show their ID to prove they were over 21 and enter the zone.

Once they were inside, past the beautiful braided bonsais and Crop Top greenhouse…

there were over a dozen brands set up ready to show off products. I will include pictures of every booth here at the bottom of the page, because this post serves as commemoration of their valiant effort.

The way I’d explain it, given that Reggae on the River is not a 21+only event, technically the larger venue was not a place where advertising for the cannabis zone would have even been allowed. When vendors physically left their booths in the Cannabis zone to go by the stages and hand out promotional flyers and postcards to try and let people know that there was a booth to visit in the legal cannabis zone, they were expressly mindful not to hand paper to children. The Cannifest zone at Reggae on the River was marked on the maps, and all in all I want to say that’s a baby step and hopefully next year will see some more realistic rules or innovative interpretations that allow such a novel thing to continue.

Them’s the DCC rules: Time to update them

Those working within the cannabis zone reported being told explicitly by DCC officials that they could not share properly marked personal use cannabis with visitor to the cannabis lounge. Employees at licensed cannabis companies who bought cannabis legally through the system were also told that they could not share their properly marked purchased cannabis with attendees. The first day was an OK time where those at booths were able to pass the long gaps of time between new arrivals by smoking with each other on headstash. The DCC explicitly told attendees that they would have to smoke alone. To add insult to injury, the DCC confirmed to those they were chastising for sharing free samples that if the booth were outside the legal cannabis zone, they would be allowed to do so.

The Dab Bar was the highlight of the Canna-Zone. Steve Morning Glory, Horizons Girl and The Finest Budtender held it down with the Snail Nail Co.’s founders and provided a much needed respite from the heat.

The festive Snail Nail Co. dab bar became “BYOB” – which some hopeful suit might have thought would help generate sales but most certainly did not. Turns out, most everyone had bud already and the very concept of bringing it elsewhere to smoke was not available. One licensed cultivator in the Reggae on the River Canna Zone revealed that they had generated 3 sales in as many days. I can’t properly express the frustration that I felt emanating from across the empty fields. The contrast with the crowded and happy crowds flowing around all the other vendors in the actual event was so stark and served to me as a physical reminder of the legal cannabis industry being a deserted island in an ocean of the status quo.

Despite this… Every person in the legal Cannabis zone was at least a little grateful – cherishing and maximizing the educational opportunity with each attendee that walked by, but it’s personally hard to witness and experience being swept under the rug and I hope this recap serves as a wake up call to the DCC that their cannabis event rules are counterproductive and as written, drive illegal sales of cannabis at the very events they’re allegedly trying to clean up for public safety.

What I observed was not an even playing field, but rather a painfully sobering look at how the current event rules do not facilitate proper cannabis events and modern consumption habits. The rules, as applied, do not allow brands to give out samples which frankly is the only shot they have of convincing someone to buy the legal weed over the much cheaper illegal weed. By the second day after fully soaking everything in at the event, I realized that this was the needed report by the press. Rant over.

Reggae on the Bomboclat River

I looked up what Bomboclat means, butt let’s not rag too much on that or make any explitive jokes. We can touch on the music though. Having recently read the Pawson and Kelly article “Consumption and Community: The Subcultural Contexts of Disparate Marijuana Practices in Jam Band and Hip-Hop Scenes,” I was particularly interested in witnessing consumption and community among the Reggae scene – which my own personal experiences have slotted as being a highbrid between the the Jam Band scene and Hip-Hop scenes. To say that all three have had an impact on spreading cannabis around the world, in particular “Cali weed,” would be a gross understatement. Hence my interest.

Music-wise, Reggae on the River very much provided a 21st century snapshot of how Reggae has spread California cannabis culture around the world. As a first time attendee, I knew the 35 years of history surrounding Reggae on the River but realistically, I like the words of several artists onstage to describe the event: “DANCEHALL ON THE RIVER!” I very much enjoyed my sonic crash course in learning the difference between ragga and reggae and witnessing their ongoing historical discourse unfold before me.

On Saturday night, a Soundclash competition on the river stage highlighted the influence of hip hop on the modern renditions of Reggae. Three international Reggae DJs “battled” with dub plates (in-song shoutouts recorded by well known Reggae artists) and 45s (normal 7 inch records): One from Senegal, one from Italy, and one from Jamaica. Reggae on the River brought together reggae fans from around the world to the Humboldt County Line to experience Cali weed. Despite the hard work of Cannifest and Reggae on the River to stand up the first ever legal Canna Zone at Reggae on the River, the DCC rules hamstringed and Achille’s tendoned the effort from the very start. I’m just here to report that… Just like every year before, it was mostly the “illegal” weed on display and being transacted at ROTR. I’ll go so far as to say that if nothing changes, it’ll happen again next year.

My humble opinion is simply that the DCC needs to listen to the coming wave of suggestions on reform and updates to deal with reality and modern consumption methods. It is just insulting to see cannabis put in a fenced off zone in back of the event while alcohol sales are still front and center. That is the juxtaposition that end users see at these events, and I just want to point out that it’s not a good look. Any politician that thinks this is a sustainable business model is guesstimating so from a terribly privileged vantage point.

Outside of the legal cannabis zone, I saw the most vile examples of commercialization, capitalism, and the illegal market. Instead of dancing in Babylon, there were people dancing to Babylon’s beat. The types of things that anyone in their right mind would support the DCC in getting off the streets and out of the reach of children. Like in years before, the bad actors are dealt with by the community. I witnessed community level self regulation like I’d never seen before; and the safety of minors was always on everybody’s mind, even outside of the legal cannabis zone.

As an festie goer will tell you, marijuana is just one of many substances being used. I heard many a parent telling their kids:

“those balloons aren’t for you.”

I saw people krocked out and saw people in crocs or even going skiing with Calvin Klein despite the summer heat.

To intervene if needed were trained First Aid responders operating under the Jah Med tent – a longstanding Reggae on the River tradition which I was blessed to learn more about from the homie who was volunteering with them. Shoutouts to the homie.

Common stories told at Reggae on the River

There was this beautiful display along the fence between the main stage and the river stage which included every Reggae on the River poster ever made – highlighting the missed years where Reggae did not return on the River – 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022,  and 2023. It came back with a vengeance for 2024 and plans for 2025 are already under way. The most common story I heard in relation to past Reggaes was the explanation that Reggae on the River had been partially “ruined by High Times.” Oh the things I overhear when out in the field.

 

The cannabis economy has been changing, but Reggae on the River has had a storied history that certainly helped in spreading the story of Cali weed internationally. I could feel the history walking by these posters.

While the music went very late each night, there were also early morning activities such as sound baths and cannabis yoga which were crucial zen moments of recharge for me each morning. Attending a sound bath in the presence of Paradise Pine? Highly recommended.

KMUD at Reggae on the River

 

One of the highlights of my Reggae on the River was walking by the outside of the KMUD press tent and seeing two gentlemen with a beautiful headie bowl full of flower and hash and nothing but a magnifying glass to light it. They noticed me staring and generously shared a solar hit through the chainlink fence.

A little while later, I was able to catch a solid on-air interview between Sunshine and Omar.

Getting Terped Out at Reggae on the River

As mentioned before, the barter economy is a key part of the Reggae on the River experience and as far as my eye could see, I saw instances of it all day and night. Water was free, and every food truck was raising money for local nonprofits so people very willingly tried new foods all throughout the festival.

For those that were there Thursday night for the Sponsor’s party, you might remember the Terped Out Kitchen tacos. On the next day, having found themselves with leftover food – Terped Out Kitchen whipped up 200+ tacos and handed them out for free to any Reggae attendee lucky enough to be walking by.

I even got to eat some Bluefin Tuna which was caught off the coast just days before. Seriously thanks to the homie for sharing that deliciousness and true Reggae sharing experiene with me. To top it all off – The homies at the poke bowl food stand were kind enough to help prepare a bowl of BYOB kinda like in the Canna-zone. Bring Your Own Bluefin.

Shout outs and big ups to everyone else I got to see and chill with. Rare Breed, Bay Sesh, Jah Med Jonathan, the Lake County crew, the puppet NERDs, especially Solventless Sanctuary for the freeze dried gummies which hit just right, and so many more.

I want to end this recap on that simple note. That sharing is caring and being terped out while on the river is an experience that everyone deserves during their summer. At the end of the event I was happy to have spent time with old friends and new friends alike, shared some great meals and dope tunes.

Hope to see y’all at Reggae on the River 2025 with an even better Cannifest Canna-zone.

The Cannifest Zone at Reggae on the River in all its glory

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