Hall of Flowers : Palm Springs Edition

Hall of Flowers is an industry only event for buyers and brands to come together and find the right products for their consumers.

Hall of Flowers Palm Springs took place in Palm Desert on December 8th and 9th and was a change of pace from the Northern California, Santa Rosa Edition of the event. Hall of Flowers is an industry only event that brings buyers together with brands.

This event helps retail brands find products for their stores by creating a space for networking and cannabis consumption. The Hall of Flowers team has gracefully evolved cannabis with the pandemic and created a vibe we’ve been missing from events since the derailment of such events during covid.

This Southern California edition of the trade show was set against a desert oasis backdrop transforming the atmosphere and mood of the traditionally Northern California event. The change of location for this event gave brands and buyers who did not make it to Santa Rosa in October another chance to connect and network.

One main difference between the venues was that in Santa Rosa the booths were split up among 3 different halls while in Palm Springs all the brands were housed in one giant hall with multiple lanes of booths. It took about 3 to 4 hours to make it through the entire event space. Brands near and far showed up for the 2-day event in hopes of networking with retail buyers, in turn elevating their cannabis brand by increasing their market share.

Once buyers had finished making their way through the maze of booth brands, they had the opportunity to lounge outside and test out their products in the warm desert sun. While the Santa Rosa show offered more space for lounging and sharing in this ancient ritual of smoking cannabis, Palm Springs utilized most of its space for brand booths and kept the consumption area at a minimum.

The Hall of Flowers saw a lot of familiar faces in Palm Springs including Jimi Devine, LA Weekly’s cannabis journalist and wook extraordinaire. Mr. Devine made it out to the desert to dive into the newest drops from California’s cannabis market and share his take. As always the #woodswiththegoods movement leader hit the HOF and had some choice picks from some of our favorite brands including Grizzly Peak, Cure Company, and Alien Labs. Check out his article on LA Weekly to read about his top heat choices.

Cannacraft, a cannabis brand based in Santa Rosa, had one of the coveted outside booths, allowing buyers to experience the full line up of their brands under the warm desert sun. One of the draws to southern California is its year round mild weather, and the brands who had outdoor spaces got to experience this event to its fullest.

Ned Fussell himself was on sight sharing his Apples and Bananas strain (pictured above) from his Farmer and the Felon brand, with eager buyers from retailers across California. The Cannacraft label includes a full line up of brands including Absolute Extracts, Care by Design, and HiFi Hops.

Also on site was the Ball Family Farms company with some new offerings, including the Clubber strain. They also brought some favorites like Laura Charles, an indica dominant hybrid with purple hues and a creamy yet spicy flavor (pictured below). The Ball Family Farms booth remained busy throughout the weekend.

Oakfruitland is one of the new brands March and Ash got to check out. This brand produces high quality indoor flower grown in climate controlled facilities and processed by hand all the way to packaging. Known for their Oaklato strain, they had a few offerings at the HOF.

We scooped a package of their gassy V-Power strain (pictured above). This indica leaning hybrid is described on the package as Loud Gas, Happiness, Tasty AF and Love which speaks to the consumer in a way that terpenes and percentages simply can’t. Hitting the mark at just over 31% cannabinoids, this V-Power kicks like a mule! We are excited to see what other selections their cultivators make in the coming year.

As we experienced in Santa Rosa, the NUG brand streamlined a dispensary situation for buyers and created a flawless experience for all attendees. As buyers went booth to booth looking for products to potentially carry in their retail stores, the brands handed out coupons, all to be redeemed in one place facilitated by NUG.

This dispensary inside the exhibit hall was attended by numerous employees and functioned efficiently. As soon as you handed in your coupons, another employee was off to the stock room to grab the assortment of products, and the wait was no longer than 5 minutes.

This event was a send off for a lot of industry folks to the Emerald Cup Harvest Ball. With only a day between the two events, much of California’s cannabis industry family was making their mass exodus across the state heading towards the promised land of the Sonoma County fairgrounds for the annual genetics festival and gathering of all things revolving around the plant we love.