SF Weed Week makes a huge impact: Here’s the report
SAN FRANCISCO—The first-ever SF Weed Week sponsored by Sunset Connect concluded with a grand finale Saturday, April 20, and Budtenders Brunch April 21. The “Get to the Bag” art show closed Tues. April 23, and we took the show down Wednesday and Thursday.
Early reports indicate SF Weed Week was a total smash hit. We believe we met and exceeded all of our deliverables, and did what had never been done. Our vision and mission is a thriving and exemplary city of SF, and cannabis culture. It looks like we took big steps down toward those goals. Up next is SF Hash Week 7.10 to 7.17 (see rate card). Here is a folder of promo photos from SF Weed Week 2024.
Some cool highlights from SF Weed Week:
- We saw cool new drops from Fig Farms, Greenshock, MOCA, Sense, Cypher, Snowfall, and more offer the best bud in the world.
- Our goal was 7 events. We executed 19. Total RSVPs hit 5,836. Six events sold out. Clubs hit capacity. Lounges became hotboxed parties.
- We promised a 200-piece art show. We delivered a 1,200 piece, 18-day run to rave reviews and packed nights. The show is going to Denver, LA, Las Vegas, New York, and Europe.
- We had a ‘no bammer weed’ viral moment at our opening day press conference with Mayor London Breed. It led to a performance by rapper Black C from RBL Posse.
- We promised “thousands of brand impressions”, and delivered hundreds of thousands. Social media impressions alone totaled a combined 157,000 social media impressions.
- Dozens of media outlets covered SF Weed Week including KTVU2, KRON4, KCBS, KQED, SF Chronicle, GreenState, SF Gate, and AF Travel—sending impressions into the hundreds of thousands.
- One store pre-sold 5 pounds of outdoor weed sight unseen. A breeder sold $10,000 of seeds. Days and weeks of pre-rolls sold in a few hours. We saw order conversions off emails that were hundreds of times the average.
- We added 1,600 active email subscribers, and our Gift Shop is open with fast-selling zines, posters, and memberships, with more to come.
- And we reached hundreds of key dispensary decision-makers: budtenders, and owners.
More Details
Impressions:
SFWeedWeek Instagram: 91 posts, 1,455 followers, 487 following, 157K Reels impressions alone.
EventBrite pageviews: 24,187.
Traffic to SFWeedWeek website: 6,500+ for the project.
Earned media hits: dozens of broadcast TV and radio and digital hits boosting impressions well over 500,000. We lost track, honestly.
Selected Earned Media clips:
Selected Quotes:
| Martin Olive, Vapor Room | “SF Weed Week is so popular that they’re going to beat me up if I don’t manage to squeeze in 125 people in a space with a maximum occupancy of 49.” |
| Jonah Raskin | “I’m glad that Downs decided to call it “Weed Week,” and not cannabis week or marijuana week. After all, it’s the peoples’ weed.” |
| Mayor London Breed | ibid |
| Jonah Raskin | “I didn’t arrive on the first day of Weed Week with any marijuana. But I didn’t need to bring any with me. There was plenty of it on hand. I asked a fellow who had a jar filled with marijuana buds to roll me a joint. He did. It was a perfect joint, not an easy thing to do.” |
| Jonah Raskin | “If SF’s mayor, London Breed, came out in favor of weed week, other mayors in other cities are likely to follow her. After all, marijunistas are also citizens and voters.” |
| commenter | “This is the blueprint. We need to take this to other cities.” |
| store owner | “I don’t know what we’re going to do if that many people show up.” |
| Solful, San Francisco | “SF Weed Week broke all our records for new flower launches. It’s so great to be able to connect our hand-picked, small-batch strains with a super-engaged audience for the freshest experience.” |
And from the state’s top regulator Nicole Elliott:
We’ll have a final report in the coming weeks.
More SF Weed Week highlights recap
Friday, April 5th: An appearance and remarks by Mayor London Breed, and packed opening for the “Get to the Bag” art show
Saturday, April 13th: A sold-out drop from Sunset Connect at Mission Cannabis Club, which hit capacoty.
On Sunday, April 14: Cipher Genetics’ Chris Lynch released Blueberry Banana x Grape Gas seeds in SOMA at Meadow HQ from 12 to 5 p.m. With Mill Nutrients, Purple City Genetics, indoor growers Ember Valley, and huge artist Porous Walker running his interactive art installation Out Bong Each Other.
Sunday evening: Living Soil Night at the Mirus Gallery brought together three fine soil growers Snowtill, Moon Valley Cannabis, and Flora+Flame at the Mirus Gallery.
On Monday, April 15:
Sonoma Hills Farm showcased their Lost Farm edibles collaboration at the chic SPARC on Polk edibles lounge in Nob Hill. Rachelle Gordon, editor of GreenState conducted the grower interview.
On Tuesday, April 15:
Oakland, CA indoor, medium-scale champions Fig Farms came over to heat up the SPARC on Polk. Freelance writer Kaisha-Dyan McMillan conducted the grower interview.
On Wednesday, April 17:
The tech company Meadow held a B2B Farmers Showcase—bringing together the world’s best licensed growers with store buyers and budtenders to review and place orders for the best herb.
Wednesday evening:
Award-winning San Francisco indoor cannabis growers Sense released a new cultivar Mr. Plow to a packed crowd at the Moe Green’s Lounge at 1276 Market St. Lester Black from SFGate.com conducted the interview.
On Thursday, April 18:
The Solful went off with a release from Greenshock Farms and their award-winning Peppermint Sleighride. Clothing brand San Franpsycho produced custom t-shirts for the release.
Furthermore, on Thursday April 18, SF Weed Week platinum sponsor Sunset Connect and high-end flower brand UpNorth presented “Calm before the storm”—a smash-hit, free industry happy hour for Bay Area dispensary operators and licensed growers.
Friday, April 19:
Award-winning Humboldt County growers MOCA Humboldt came down to premier the Candy Yams strain at Flore dispensary in the Castro from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m.
Moon Made Farms premiered some long-cure 2023 full-sun Sherb Haze flower with High Times’ editor in chief Ellen Holland moderating at The Vapor Room on 9th St. from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Meadow HQ conducted a happy hour for all from 5 to 8 p.m. at 60 13th St.
And Professor Seagulls Smart Shop hosted a Bicycle Day reception in North Beach at 7:30 p.m.
On Sunday, April 21:
Sunset Connect with UpNorth and Bosky held the Bay Area Budtenders’ Blunch—a budtender-only decompression party featuring brunch and blunts (aka blunch) at the Mirus Gallery. Free with RSVP to industry.
On Monday, April 22:
SF Weed Week hosted Earth Day programming at the Mirus Gallery, with a talk on sustainability with PAX, plus packaging from Sonoma Hills Farm.
Interact with SF Weed Week
Sign up for news from SF Weed Week on our Contact page. Get involved with SF Weed Week using our Get Involved form.
Up next is SF Hash Week 7.10 to 7.17 (see rate card). Here is a folder of promo photos from SF Weed Week 2024.