The five-acre Sugar Hill farm is one of the stops on the new Cannabis Tasting & Tour Weekends, part of Mendocino County’s outreach to canna tourists. Photo courtesy The Madrones.
One of the counties in California’s legendary Emerald Triangle is embracing its heritage as a cannabis hot spot, partnering with local businesses and reaching out to canna-tourists through a “canna-curious” section of the county’s tourism website.
Mendocino County, the southern point of the famed triangle formed with Humboldt and Trinity counties, has spent the past 2 ½ years building relationships with cannabis partners and stakeholders to learn the needs of the industry and blend them into the county’s flourishing tourist economy to “build a product that could be marketed to the canna-curious traveler segment.”
“Canna-tourism adds a new layer to our already existing and flourishing agro-tourism market,” Travis Scott, executive director of Visit Mendocino County, said in an email to Marijuana Venture. “We’ve built a program that brings over 300 new stakeholders together and to the table to engage and educate visitors to tell their stories and share their produce, products, services and goods.”
Tourism is one of the county’s largest industries, generating more than $433 million in revenue and supporting more than 5,000 jobs, according to Scott.
“By folding cannabis-facing businesses into the marketing fold, we hope to increase those numbers and make a direct impact to our cannabis partners and stakeholders,” he said.
The canna-tourist pitch from the county includes everything from cannabis-friendly resorts like the Madrones and a micro-dosed seven-course meal at the Brambles to the 40-acre Yokayo Ranch or a cannabis-friendly 20-acre camp tucked among the redwoods. With local consumption lounges, the Cannabis Culture Museum in Willits, the CBD massage specialists at Sweetwater Spa, as well as a full range of tourist-friendly cannabis shops and multiple farm tours, both self-guided and chartered, the county offers just about anything a canna-tourist might hope to see.
“With our proximity and ease-of-access coupled with deep roots in legacy farming and stellar natural assets, Mendocino County is the premier cannabis friendly destination,” said Scott.
— Brian Beckley