Industry trends in hemp, CBD, and health and wellness will take the spotlight during the inaugural Pocono Canna Fest this weekend at the West End Fairgrounds in Gilbert.

Canna Med Show LLC, based in Allentown, will present the event, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Adults must accompany minors. Information is available at cannamedshow.com.

Pocono Canna Fest will feature dozens of vendors, ranging from medical marijuana dispensaries to food and beverage businesses. In addition, the event will include medical-marijuana certification, plus reiki sound bathing, goat yoga, and live glass blowing.

“Our business associates from our former trade show business encouraged us to bring Canna Fest to the Poconos,” said April Fairfield, Canna Med Show co-owner. “We hope to educate the public on the health benefits specifically associated with hemp and marijuana.

“Hemp and marijuana are both considered cannabis, while hemp is completely legal and marijuana legalization varies by state,” she continued. “Our vendors are required to follow all local, state and federal laws.”

In 2016, Gov. Tom Wolf legalized medical marijuana in Pennsylvania, with the first dispensaries starting to serve patients in early 2018. In 2021, Wolf signed House Bill 1024, which updated Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act.

“I was once opposed to the use of marijuana,” Fairfield said. “My perceptions were shaped by the anti-drug propaganda publicized by former presidents Nixon and Reagan. Their combined anti-drug policies abolished years of vital medical research and treatments.”

Fairfield’s attitude towards cannabis changed significantly after watching Cargo Film & Releasing’s “Weed the People,” a documentary on the use of marijuana in the treatment of rare pediatric tumors.

“The episode described how medical marijuana actually shrunk certain types of pediatric tumors, but many parents were blocked from obtaining treatment due to the state laws where they resided. I find it ludicrous and inhumane to prohibit lifesaving treatments solely based on an individual’s home state.”

In January, Fairfield and co-owner Joel Koehler started setting up their new business, with plans to hold six to eight Canna Fests annually. “We wanted to educate people on new trends in the cannabis industry,” she said, “and also help to normalize the use of medical marijuana by tearing down the misconceptions.”

Fairfield acknowledges that the stigma and prejudice associated with CBD and cannabis created business challenges. “Merchant account providers often will not do business with the cannabis industry and many marketing agencies have refused our business.”

Although the hurdles often seemed insurmountable, she added, “we persevered with our efforts to bring alternative health-education options to the general public in a fun and engaging atmosphere.”

Smokono Mountain Cannabis LLC, a CBD shop based in Bartonsville, will participate as a vendor during Pocono Canna Fest. Owner Gerald Napolitano, who started the business in 2020, will showcase locally sourced, organically grown cannabis and hemp products.

Items include CBD, CBG and THC oils, topicals, gummies and jelly candies.

Napolitano, a participant in other cannabis festivals, believes events such as Pocono Canna Fest are about “freedom. It’s like a hippie tour, like going to the Grateful Dead, except the Grateful Dead isn’t there.”

Live music will also feature at Pocono Canna Fest, with Cody Templeton and Carl Palmeri - of the Cody Templeton Band - performing Saturday and Sunday. The Brain Dean Moore Band will also perform Saturday, with the Cramer Brothers Band playing on Sunday.

For its first few years, the Cody Templeton Band, formed in late 2018 in the Slate Belt, often described itself as “a rock band with a country singer,” Palmeri said. After slight changes in its lineup and introducing members’ individual tastes and styles into the sound, “someone recently called us ‘northeastern southern rock,’ and we thought that was fitting.”

The band, Palmeri said, wanted to play Pocono Canna Fest as a full unit, “but a few of our members had scheduling conflicts, so Cody and I decided to do it as a duo. It seemed like far too much fun to entirely pass up because of logistics.”

Generally, Palmeri said, “We’re hoping that people attending Pocono Canna Fest come away from it with a better understanding of whatever it was that brought them there in the first place, be they social or legislative activism reasons.”