🌿 How to celebrate 420 in the Mile HIGH
BY PEYTON GARCIA | @CITYCASTDENVER
HAPPY 420 🌿🥦🌱😶🌫️
Honestly, no one celebrates the unofficial cannabis holiday quite like we do in the Mile High. Coloradans have been down with 420 for a looong time. A few weeks ago, I chronicled the evolution of cannabis regulation in Colorado starting way, way back in 1876, the year our state was founded. We were frontrunners for many of the “big firsts” in modern-day pot laws.
Like last month, when Tetra Lounge in RiNo was granted the city’s very first marijuana hospitality license. This means the consumption of pot is allowed on-site, including, for the first time, smoking indoors. Having reopened last weekend, just in time for 420, Tetra will have vendors and celebrity guests stopping by the lounge all week.
In fact, on today’s 420 episode of City Cast Denver, host Bree Davies checks out Tetra Lounge for herself with our resident weed contributor Ann Marie Awad to talk all things marijuana. Check it out 👇
And speaking of grand openings and public pot consumption, Jad’s Mile High Smoke is debuting this Friday as the state’s first lounge that not only allows pot consumption on-site, but can also sell recreational cannabis products. (At Tetra, guests must bring their own weed.) Jad’s will also offer non-alcoholic, THC-infused “beers.”
We’ve certainly come a long, long way from 1876. How’s all that for some Mile High pride?
OTHER 420 FESTIVITIES
🌱 After a two-year pandemic hiatus, Denver’s annual Mile High 420 Festival, which claims to be the “largest in the world,” is back for free at Civic Center Park starting at noon today. Lil Jon, Big Boi, and Talib Kweli are scheduled to perform. (It’s important to note that cannabis use at Civic Center Park is prohibited and doing so comes with the risk of a citation.)
🌱 Fight off the munchies with a 420 Snack Box from Mister Oso. For $52.50, each box contains a voucher for a free joint from High Grade, two margs, two Gordo Crunches, two empanadas, two “Big Ass” cookies, and guac and queso with chips.
🌱 Start the day with cannabis, coffee, doughnuts, and yoga, at the Coffee Joint, Denver’s first-ever licensed consumption lounge. In honor of 420, Coffee Joint is waiving its usual $5 entrance fee for the day.
🌱 Alamo Drafthouse is hosting a special screening of “Dazed & Confused” featuring commentary from stars Matthew McConaughey and Parker Posey, director Richard Linklater, and host Jack Black. The showing is at 3 p.m. and tickets are $13.
🌱 Denver’s International Church of Cannabis is hosting a private 7 p.m. service for church members that will include food, drinks, and a performance from comedian Al Jackson. To attend, you must sign up to become a member of the church here, or you can call 303-800-5644 to find out more.
Check out dozens more 420 events and specials happening today and through the weekend in this roundup courtesy of Westword.
MORE (NON 420) NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
✈️ No more masks at DIA and on most flights: Last week, the CDC extended the federal mask mandate for travelers through May 3. BUT this week, a federal judge overturned that decision, calling the extension “unlawful” and effectively ending mask requirements for planes, trains, and other modes of public transit. RTD, DIA, and several major airlines immediately dropped mask mandates. [CPR]
🐶 If you’re considering adopting a dog… Now would be a great time to pull the trigger. The Denver Dumb Friends League is reporting a “critical rise” in dogs at its shelters around the metro area, steering them worryingly close to max capacity. In March alone, more than 1,100 animals arrived at DDFL shelters. [DDFL]
- ✋ Take action: If you’re unable to adopt, but still want to help, you can volunteer at the shelter, foster dogs awaiting adoption, or donate to the organization.
- 🥺 See for yourself: Check out the DDFL’s current list of adorable adoptees. [City Cast Denver is not responsible for (but is totally supportive of) any impulsive life decisions as a result of this newsletter.]
💧 The Colorado River has conservationists worried: According to a recent report from conservation group American Rivers, the Colorado River is currently the country’s most endangered. Roughly 40 million people rely on the river for drinking water, more than 5 million acres of farmland use it for irrigation, 30 Native American tribes live along the river basin, and wildlife across nine National Parks depend on it. [CPR]
- 🔎 Dive deeper: Take a closer look at the American Rivers report and the steps being taken to make a change.