Overview CannaFest is Minnesota Monthly's cannabis tasting night, a ticketed 21+ evening at The Lowlands in downtown St. Paul. It runs twice a year, once in spring and once in fall. One admission price covers unlimited samples from Minnesota hemp brands and a commemorative tasting glass, and guests can buy products straight from the makers at their tables. Greenspring Media, the publisher of Minnesota Monthly, produces it alongside the Food & Wine Experience, GrillFest and the Fine Spirits Classic. On site Doors are open for three hours on a weeknight. Exhibitors work from compact stalls, pouring THC seltzers, sodas and infused mocktails and handing out gummies, chocolates, baked goods and THC ice cream. Other tables sell CBD tinctures, topicals and wellness tonics. The Lowlands is smoke-free, so everything on the floor is an edible or a drink. A food partner sells food, water is easy to find, and staff remind guests to pace themselves and plan a safe ride home. Past floors have also had a photo booth, a permanent jewelry bar and a kava lounge. Audience The crowd mixes curious first-timers with regular THC seltzer drinkers and wellness shoppers who came for CBD. Every guest is 21 or older and paid to get in, so the room is there to taste and shop. Minnesota Monthly's Twin Cities readers skew affluent, with an average household income of $215,000, and 73% say they often buy products they first saw at an event. Talent and Influencers Many tables are run by the small Minnesota companies that make the product, so guests can ask about dosing, ingredients and how a drink or gummy is made. The program adds expert panels and product demos from people in the state's hemp and cannabis industry. Education has been part of CannaFest from the start, and Greenspring pitches it as a place to learn about cannabis as much as to try it. Track record CannaFest started at the Machine Shop in Northeast Minneapolis after Minnesota legalized hemp-derived THC edibles and drinks. It later moved to The Lowlands and added a fall edition. Uncle Arnie's, Island Pezi, Top Ten Liquors and Twin Cities 400 Tavern sponsor it, and the exhibitor list runs from Minnesota makers like Minneleaf, Pot Mama's and Granny's Edibles to Green Goods, RISE, Cornbread Hemp and Boulevard's Quirk seltzer. Brand presence Sponsors buy both editions in one package. The brand appears in Minnesota Monthly's ads for the event in print and online, on event signage and in the tasting program handed to every guest, on the event website, and in attendee emails before and after the night. Media support includes a Minnesota Monthly magazine ad, display impressions on MinnesotaMonthly.com and sponsorships of its daily enewsletter. On the floor, sponsors get a booth to sample and sell, staff badges, complimentary tickets and a spot in the swag bag.