The San Diego Cannabis Farmers Market held its annual cannabis-centric career and networking event this past weekend at the Four Points by Sheraton.
On Saturday morning, October 29, the So-Cal Cannabis & Career Expo settled into the hotel’s Palm meeting rooms, hallway, and Pavilion Patio.
A full day of connections for cannabis industry professionals, job seekers, and other business-minded types lay ahead.
Employers and Employees Meet
Vendors, exhibitors, and employee-seeking companies began setting up after 9:00 a.m., preparing for the event’s opening at 11:00 a.m.
People began showing up before the event started, browsing tables and talking with company representatives.
At the CannaGeek table, I handed out free stickers and comic books and talked with attendees.
Various companies, including Helmand Valley Growers Company and ADT Security, occupied tables in the Hiring/Business area.
At one table near a Hiring/Business area entrance, attendees learned about the dangers that hop latent viroid poses to cannabis crops.
Outside, in the Pavilion Patio area, various vendors had booths displaying different cannabis-related items.
Vendors in attendance included Samadhi CBD, The Kush Babes, Queen Mary, Mankind Dispensary, and Got Hempsa CBD-Infused Coffee.
The CalyFX/Jack Herer bus sat in a nearby grassy area, providing a safe and discreet place for some cannabis consumption.
Education and the Future
Saturday’s event included a series of three speaker panels; Women in Cannabis, Future of Psychedelics, and Cannabis Social Equity.
A pair of flowering hemp plants stood at the front corners of the stage, setting the scene for an afternoon of information and education.
For the duration of the event, all three panels, which ran from 12:00 to 5:00, were full or mostly full with plenty of knowledge-hungry attendees.
Pleased with how the day went, SDCFM Founder Josh Caruso says the event drew a steady flow of more than 1,100 locals, eager to learn about what’s new in the San Diego cannabis culture and industry.
“Bridging the gap between the culture and the industry has always been the focus of this event, along with offering career opportunities, education, and networking,” says Caruso. “I feel we accomplished all this and more. With the forever-changing and growing landscape of the cannabis space, especially in San Diego County, we are expecting this event to continue to grow.”
Caruso says the next So-Cal Career & Business Expo will happen in 2023.