OSL hosting a weed themed section of the park? Talk about something that is on brand. Last year, Outside Lands became one of the first festivals to have a section of Golden Gate Park dedicated to marijuana that every single publication on the internet has been calling “the first major US music festival to have a curated cannabis experience.” The one drawback for most fanatics: you can’t smoke in a public park so Grass Lands had a look, don’t touch vibe.
Grass Lands featured a range of activities for marijuana enthusiasts, including booths with budtenders, lemonade stands, flower crown making and a “smell wall.” According to Superfly’s co-founder, the incorporation of Grass Lands was meant to celebrate the legalization of weed in California and show off what local plants the state has to offer. The “curated experience” is a complement to Wine Lands which highlights Napa Valley and Sonoma’s extensive wine offerings.
Grass Lands is back for 2019 with most of the same events, but would we consider their first year a success? When reading the responses to Grass Lands in 2018, journalists and people hired to speak about the event sounded excited about how the first year played out. But after browsing through Reddit, the fans might feel a little different.
The idea of having a cannabis curated experience and calling it Grass Lands can be very deceptive to an unaware festival goer who might be looking to smoke before the next show. From what I can tell on Reddit, Grass Lands was a bit of a flop. The event is understandably disappointing to anyone interested in consuming any marijuana at the festival.
Most of the critiques from the patrons at the festival centered around the idea that no actual smoking was taking place at Grass Lands. One person on Reddit even pointed out that they personally were smoking everywhere throughout the festival except for Grass Lands while another said that everyone was simply missing the point of the entire set up.
Overall, it seems like Grass Lands could use some work. Although it’s “fun” for a festival in San Francisco to celebrate the legalization of weed in California, the branding of the event seems all wrong. I was not able to attend Outside Lands last year, and up until doing further research I thought people were able to smoke at Grass Lands, just like the many other festival goers disappointed with the area.
In terms of educating the public and de-stigmatizing marijuana use, Grass Lands was a success. For future festivals, Superfly should work to publicize a bit more about what the event has to offer so that people aren’t quite as disappointed when they get there.
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