The Windy City Smoke Up was a private and invitation-only event designed to be a safe space to get high. With rapper Afroman headlining, attendees met at a warehouse in Chicago’s West Town for a night of entertainment and weed.
The organizer, Dom Brown, pulled the underground warehouse party together to toke where it was “100% legal” to indulge.Entry fees ranged between $55 and $108. And invitees werehappy to payout. Billed as a cannabis expo, festivities included open marijuana consumption alongside live music and art.
The party delivered as promised. Thick clouds, seemingly endless rotation of joints and blunts, and a good time had by all. The crowds toasted the growing legalization and a still strong black market. Vendors proffered their wares. It included products usually found on the black market as well as products available at regulated dispensaries.
Not surprisingly, attendees loved the opportunity. Niko Bretti, 26, relaxing on a leather couch with a joint, said, “This is one step closer to what I wish we could do everywhere, instead of just Illinois.”
Brown’s party drew out vendor Eva Hernandez of Little Village. She produces pot-infused products with her Crybaby Sweets company. Hernandez delivers herself and sells online.
Still underground business-wise, Hernandez feels less squeezed into corners thanks to legalization and events like the Windy City Smoke Up. “Everything is still illegal as f— but it’s not as much repercussion now, which is nice. Like nobody’s gonna test my pastry to see if it has real weed in it.”
Brown, who hosts “Wake & Bake,” a pot YouTube show, uses events like these to alleviate the stigma and normalize the idea of smoking. He says, “I saw a space in Chicago where there was nobody willing to take the risk to produce an event like this — which it’s 100% legal as long as you follow the guidelines.”
There are no rules for public consumption in Chicago. State law only allows smoking in tobacco shops and dispensaries. Even then it’s only allowed if approved by the local law.
Brown used the invitation-only status to argue his affair was private and not subject to guidelines. During the event, he expressed concerns about the state of Illinois’ social licensing disappointments. He lamented that “big corporate brands” dominate the legal pot market, even if several sponsored the Windy City Smoke Up.
Brown is out of Cali where he admits a robust market may be gray but thrives. He’s out in Chicago “following the road map of what other successful cities are doing.
“When we fly out and shoot [the YouTube show] in these places, it’s so normalized, it’s so relaxed and it’s such a part of their society. That’s why I come back here and I do my work to move that forward.”
Despite the contradictions that force Brown to set up smoking events, billionaires like William “Beau” Wrigley and producers like Parallel are dipping their toes into the Illinois weed market.
