Episode Transcript

Trevor: Kirk. You're back from the hill. 

Kirk: Yes, sir. Dauphin Country Fest after a two-year hiatus is back. It was back with an all Canadian guest lists and talent. We were there from Thursday evening till Monday afternoon. Got down from the hill about 1:00. Very, very chill country festival. Lots of good music. 

Trevor: Yet you and Michelle were hard core. You were there in van-Toot, all weekend. 

Kirk: Yeah. 

Trevor: Doris and I and my daughter and some friends from the pharmacy were far, far less hardcore. We spent our nights at home in our beds, but then went up in the evening and listened to some music. So, you know, there's lots of different ways to enjoy the country fest. 

Kirk: But this is the first time we've ever done this; to camp there. And, you know, 20 years of volunteering and working on the Hill for the for the festival. This year Michelle was doing some contract for the festival, and I went along as her, I guess number one or her extra. And yeah, I just, you know, when there wasn't music, I go back to my campsite and have a have a nice beer, a beer with flavor, and watch the goings on and meet people and then go back to the go back to the grounds and watch, watch the acts I wanted to, but we're part of history there. We saw history being made. Now, this is not you talking about when I stopped by your van-Hoot and the Desiree Dorian of the theme music, Desiree Dorian, 

Kirk: Soul Back Jack. 

Trevor: Came by and gave us Jell-O shooters. That's not the history you're talking about. 

Kirk: Well, that was history. I was the first Jello shooter I've had in several decades. Yeah. Desiree dropped by to say hello to us. She, of course is Soul Back Jack, our theme song. We saw her there. No, she's played she's played in Country Fest lots. The history was the we had mentioned that in episode with Dr. Jennifer Anderson. How there was going to be cannabis sold at Country Fest this year and we got to talk to Delta9 and yeah Canada's first mobile cannabis shop. There's pictures on Instagram to prove it. 

Trevor: Yep. And we will let Marshall to get more into it. But just the hoops they had to go through just to get this thing to exist. And if I'm wrong, I don't care. Dauphin's Country Fest seems to be the first place that it's a thing. If someone else. If someone else beat us to it. They had a trial run, I don't know about it. So I am going to claim Dauphin first. So that was kind of cool. 

Kirk: Yeah, you're very correct. Let's listen to it. Let's listen to the interview and then come out of it. We talk a little bit more of stuff that we said we were talking about out of off camera and hey, please introduce yourself. 

Marshall Posner: Sure. My name is Marshall Posner. I'm the chief marketing officer at Delta9 Cannabis. 

Kirk: Fantastic. And we're standing in front of the world's first mobile cannabis store. 

Marshall Posner: Yeah, technically, the world's first. Canada's first mobile cannabis store, for sure. This event, CountryFest, represents the first time that a mobile store in Manitoba and across Canada has been able to sell cannabis on site. We've worked with the LCGA, MBLL and the RM of Dauphin, of course the organizers, the CountryFest for six months plus to work through all the regulation and make sure that we have a mobile store that meets all the standards of our bricks and mortar store. From a security standpoint, from a product store standpoint, from a screening process to the checkout and so on. So really, this is truly a mobile store in the sense that it offers the same sort of experience that you might expect, just on a smaller scale, from one of our other stores. 

Kirk: That's fantastic. So I'm kind of thinking the vault in there takes up a portion of the room some place. 

Marshall Posner: Yeah. So, it's a 26-foot trailer and we can walk through, you could see the front of it here. So, the vault takes up about two thirds. 

Kirk: Two third. 

Marshall Posner: Yeah, it holds a significant amount of product obviously. And, and then there's obviously plan for us to replenish if necessary because there's another vault access on the other side. You can see here just at the front of the store and it's one of these toy haulers that we've retrofitted. So essentially the ramp comes down and then we have a lineup where we check IDs on the outside. And when you're on the ramp area, you can have access to the menu. The menus are also on the inside as well, and you walk up. There are two checkouts, place your order in the front. You can't see through to the vault at all. So all the access has been blocked and then we hand back the ticket with your purchase and then it's filled in the back. You receive it in a bag and away you go. 

Kirk: That's fantastic. So, is it licensed in Manitoba? 

Marshall Posner: Yeah. 

Kirk: Is it licensed in other provinces? 

Marshall Posner: No, it's licensed and it's a temporary license. So it's actually only licensed for CountryFest. So it's been licensed from Wednesday, June 29th, up until the end of day tomorrow. So that's and then that's it. This store cannot sell cannabis. So it's very event specific, these temporary licenses. It's a brand-new category. 

Kirk: But that's a huge investment. So you're going to get it. What's your next event? Your goal? 

Marshall Posner: Yeah. So that, you're right. But our plan, obviously is to... 

Kirk: get away with it this time. 

Marshall Posner: to parade around from event to event. The next one for us this summer is Rock in the Fields. Minnedosa.  So that's August long weekend. We'll be there for five days, similar to what we were here for. And then we'll be back next year for sure here. And we're working on a larger lineup for next summer. Five, six events. 

Kirk: Two this year?

Marshall Posner: Just two this year. Get our feet wet. Introduce the concept. 

Kirk: What a neat idea. 

Marshall Posner: Yeah, well, a long time coming. But, you know, if you said you said eight, nine years ago that you'd be at a festival. Buying cannabis, you know, no one would have believed you. 

Kirk: Do you have any questions Trevor?  What do you essentially want everyone to know about this? 

Marshall Posner: Well, I'll tell you what. These are actually tricky, though. It's like a double. You got to get in there. Okay. Yeah. Have at it? See you guys. That cannabis packaging. 

Kirk: To be honest with you, I've had trouble getting into those as well. 

Marshall Posner: I usually I just cut them. Some of those things are like, Jesus Christ. 

Trevor: No, I agree, I. My daughter can get into them. 

Marshall Posner: ya but the cannabis consumers can't. So, yeah, to answer your question then. Well, part of everything that we do like this is outreach and education about cannabis and working towards, you know, destigmatizing cannabis. I mean, let's face it, from where we are now, you know, where we've come from, where we started has been significant over a very short period of time. We're looking at four years. Since legalization.  

Kirk: So do you think, we were in Alberta? Yeah. And they had an outdoor smoking area. Can you see that happening in Manitoba? 

Marshall Posner: I do. I'm definitely optimistic about it. The laws, the consumption laws obviously need to change before those kind of temporary smoking areas or even more permanent consumption lounges can be licensed. So, the laws are different. They're all very by region specific. And they're not even province specific. Just for example, in Edmonton, you can walk down the street and smoke a joint. In Calgary, you cannot. And obviously in Manitoba, no public consumption. So, until that changes, we'll be able to have things like consumption lounges. We won't be able to have things like cannabis gardens, you know, the equivalent of a beer garden at events such as this, or even things like Bomber games. Have a designated cannabis section. You know, so it's that's the next step for sure. Even the cannabis beverages. Someone was asking me, they're like, Oh, I can't drink my cannabis beverages up with my guys who are drinking beer. Yeah, it's like, you know, you're still sort of isolated. And but you know what? We always knew legalization was just the beginning. It was just step one. And we're working constantly evolving the process. 

Kirk: Thank you very much,. 

Trevor: Kirk.

Kirk: So Canada's first, Manitoba's inaugural temporary cannabis shop. And and now we talked about, I thought we had recorded the conversation. We had talked about how they got away with doing this. And I do say getting away with it because it's all in how Delta9 has interpreted the laws of Manitoba. 

Trevor: Well saying getting away with it, is probably a little too strong. Delta9 followed all the rules and was working really carefully with the government organization. And this the shop was duly licensed but just licensed for that weekend. And for those of you who live a little further south than us in Manitoba, apparently they will be out again at Minnedosa for the August long weekend. So you can look for them there. But yeah, so. 

Kirk: Rock in the Fields. 

Trevor: Rock in the Fields in Minnedosa but yeah. So what did you think about? You could walk in there and buy it. Kind of like a regular store in a mall. But then what did you have to do to consume it Kirk? 

Kirk: Well, this is the thing. This is this is how and I say, get away with it because this is what's happening. Is it is it companies have to be innovative and companies have to think out of the box to find ways of getting their brand out there, right and getting themselves out there. Cannabis is very restricted in where you can have a shop and once you have a shop, you have to have security mechanisms in place. So, they have this trailer. It looks like it looks like a boat trailer or car trailer. You know, it's he says 24 feet or something. And yeah. 

Trevor: He called it a modified toy trailer. So if you picture something that someone would have a skidoo. A quad. Yeah, not quite. Not quite a horse. You know, it's way too nice to be a horse trailer, but that sort of size. 

Kirk: But if you if the guy was scrutinizing and walking around it, I think three quarters of it's a vault, you know, and with two entrances in it and there's no way you can get to it. The wheels were locked down. So I think they had to go through that to go through the hoops of creating this thing. But the way they got away with the licensing is that the Selo Grounds is a private piece of property. 

Trevor: Yeah, not a provincial park. Not a Provincial Park. Not a National Park. 

Kirk: No, it's a it's a private property and CountryFest and other festivals in Dauphin are held there making it a public place. But they've got campgrounds and so therefore. 

Trevor: Like literally right next to the Trailer. 

Kirk: Right. Well, right next to the trailer. I mean, it's on the escarpment of Riding Mountain National Park and it's farmland. So it's, you know, there are fifth-wheels and trailers and all sorts of camping and housing type of devices. Given you're given a plot of land, that's your dwelling for the weekend, you are allowed. 

Trevor: That is your temporary residence. 

Kirk: That's where your temporary residence is. And you can you can consume cannabis there. So the law says they can sell cannabis here. Now, the law says you cannot consume cannabis on site. But as it's been happening since Woodstock, cannabis has been on sites at festivals forever. There was obvious consumption of cannabis happening on site, but in all due respect, it was very chill and nobody was worried about it and that was really nice. But officially the reason they got the license is because people could consume in their dwelling, not on site. 

Trevor: Yeah. And again, where we think it was well run festival, we're not trying to get anyone in trouble at all. Kudos to Delta9 for having this happened. It was it was very cool. Kirk: and I have complained in previous podcasts and we'll continue to complain a little bit that, you know, we've been trying to completely by the book legally do a cannabis dinner, which was not so hard to do with like 2017 pre-like legalization. Now we're having more difficulties jumping through all the right hoops to get something like that done. So cannabis consumption in Manitoba in a public place, not so easy. 

Kirk: Not happening. 

Trevor: A year ago ish we were in Calgary, Alberta and it was a lot of hoops, but Hemp Expo?  Do I have that right? They did a really nice event and they did manage to at the last minute get a cannabis consumption area. But even they had lots of hoops in Alberta. But HempFest! There we go. Finally get my terminology right. So Hempfest managed to get it done in Alberta.  In Manitoba, seems to be, we will say, difficult to get a cannabis consumption license. 

Kirk: There's no possibility from how the law is being interpreted with the current government. But what my Delta9 has done and I say get away with it because they've pushed it and I congratulate them for it because I think it's important we start normalizing cannabis. And that's one of the reasons why I get a little pushy and I just get on my rant because we need to normalize that cannabis is, it's here. It's not as harmful as alcohol. It's not as harmful as cigarettes. But yet it's being licensed. Well there's more laws for cannabis now than it was before recreational legalization. But the thing is, you know, my big push is that the medicinal cannabis, that we got to work hard on. But this is a cool story. Canada is first. In Dauphin. Kudos to, you know, to Delta9 and Dauphin's CountryFest for starting something in history and helping to normalize cannabis. 

Trevor: Thanks to Delta9 and you know everybody should come to Dauphin's CountryFest. As Kirk: says there's a variety of music. Like you saw all sorts of bands up top on the smaller stages. 

Kirk: I like, I like top, I like the top. The Hilltop has, in my opinion, more interesting, more starving artists that that put on some very fine shows. 

Trevor: But I'm going to do. Even though Kirk's the music aficionado, he let me pick the music for this one so I'm picking the closing act for all of Country Fest. His name's Johnny Reid. He is. Well, he's not who you think of for country music either. He's more like a soul - blues - gospel singer. And, you know, he's got a 14-piece band behind him. He great. And he's Canadian now, but he's still a Scottish Canadian. Like, he gets out and ask the crowd if they want have a wee bit of fun and you know, so we've got the Scottish brogue, we've got this guy in a, so picture, it's a warm July evening, it's getting close to 11:00. But in Dauphin that means the sky is still light. There's still a little bit of light because, you know, we're a little farther north. And you've gotten together with 10,000 of your closest friends in a natural amphitheater on the edge, Riding Mountain National Park and Johnny Reid starts playing Let's Go Higher. Now, here's what you have to remember for this. When Johnny says during the chorus, Let's go higher, you have to throw your hands up in the air and shake them and scream out higher. What I'm picturing is a lot of you sitting around with headphones in some public place with your hands in the air screaming higher. I dare you to have a bad day after listening to Johnny Reid with your hands in the air yelling higher. 

Kirk: I can't I can't top that. Except to say that while Johnny Reid was, you know, yelling out, get higher, I was watching I was watching Clayton Bellamy and the Congregation do the Church of Rock and Roll. It's like watching Jerry Lee Lewis. It was very cool. So I was up on the top of stage and it went to about 1:00 in the morning. So, it was just the gas. Yeah. I didn't get much sleep in the weekend. 

Trevor: Catch up tonight. It was a good festival and kudos to Delta9 that was very great that the Dauphin's CountryFest had Canada's first mobile cannabis store. 

Kirk: Yeah. Cool.