Cannabis trade show attracts big crowd, sparks buzz at fairgrounds in Ventura

How crazy is the Ventura County Fair grounds?  They are NOT allowed to rent to a Gun show.  Guns are too dangerous.  But they are allowed to rent to the Cannabis industry to promote drug use.  The world is upset down.

“The wonderland of cannabis known as the Hall of Flowers trade show was underway.

The event that continues Thursday connects dispensaries with brands that want to sell them product – paperless joints, topical lotions infused with THC, vaping cartridges, buds, you name it.

Over two days, the event is expected to draw more than 3,000 to the Ventura seaside fairgrounds. It’s not open to the public but is a must-make event for people in the industry.

“It’s huge. That’s why we go all out,” said public relations specialist Shelbie Vaszquez from a booth in one of the fairground’s massive Quonset huts. She stood in a pink jacket that matched the cabinet displays, flowers and the sign that said, “Girls, girls, girls.”

Want to get high?  No need to buy anything, just attend the local marijuana show at the Ventura Fair Grounds and get high from breathing!!!  How sick is this?

Cannabis trade show attracts big crowd, sparks buzz at fairgrounds in Ventura

Tom Kisken, Ventura County Star, 3/20/25    https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/2025/03/20/hall-of-flowers-cannabis-trade-show-brings-big-crowd-sparks-a-buzz-ventura/82491703007/

• Trade show expected to bring more than 3,000 people.
• Closed to the public but must-attend event for the industry.
• It made its first appearance at the fairgrounds a year ago.

The wonderland of cannabis known as the Hall of Flowers trade show was underway.

The event that continues Thursday connects dispensaries with brands that want to sell them product – paperless joints, topical lotions infused with THC, vaping cartridges, buds, you name it.

Over two days, the event is expected to draw more than 3,000 to the Ventura seaside fairgrounds. It’s not open to the public but is a must-make event for people in the industry.

“It’s huge. That’s why we go all out,” said public relations specialist Shelbie Vaszquez from a booth in one of the fairground’s massive Quonset huts. She stood in a pink jacket that matched the cabinet displays, flowers and the sign that said, “Girls, girls, girls.”

The booth was put together for three cannabis brands: Pretty Dope, Yumi Karma and High Gorgeous. All are owned by women. Hence the sign that read, “Where there’s a woman, there’s a way.”

The women were there, like everyone else, to make business connections. There may be a more basic link that explains why so many people come to the trade show.

“Because they like weed,” said Michael Alan Brenner, sales manager with International Horticultural Technologies or IHORT. The Hollister company makes propagation plugs out of coco and peat. People insert plants into the plugs to make them root faster, Brenner said, citing his more than 40 years experience in horticulture.

“There’s not a plant on the planet I can’t propagate,” he said.

Elsewhere, vendors talked about cannabis strains as if they were wine. A hybrid called Grape Goober is designed to carry hints of peanut butter and jelly.

An exhibit for a cannabis vaping company called Turn featured a male performer flouncing around frustrated and dejected. Inspired by the “Barbie” movie, the mini-drama shows Ken after Barbie leaves him for a Turn vaping product.

Hall of Flowers made its first appearance at the fairgrounds a year ago as the site’s first-ever cannabis show. The partnership has worked well, at least in the eyes of Chris Gonzalez, who works in marketing for Hall of Flowers and grew up in Agoura Hills.

“I used to watch the little pigs run around,” he said referring to the All Alaskan Racing Pigs attraction at the annual county fair. “This is the greatest venue in Southern California.”

At least four after-parties were scheduled for Wednesday. They were consumption events designed to foster business connections in a “more chill environment,” said Quentin Dusastre, promoting the parties in clothes decorated with marijuana leaves.

“That’s my business card,” he said. “I’m known as the guy in the weed suit.”

People could buy samples at the show and try them out in the outdoor smoking lounge decorated with benches and tables covered with blankets. That’s where Rob Gale, a hash maker from Arcata, was trying to explain the difference between hash resin and hash rosin.

An unmistakable herbal scent wafted through the rapidly filling parking lot at the Ventura County Fairgrounds Wednesday morning.

It’s confusing and maybe it doesn’t really matter, Gale noted.

“There are no rules in weed,” he said.