Highlife BCN report

from 2005 06 UK

Shop reviews

Highlife Fair Barcelona 2005

Second international edition a great success

It was once again a nail biter for the organisers of the second Spanish edition of the renowned Highlife Fair. The Spanish cannabis-loving public this year had already had two other cannabis fairs to deal with, of which one was in Barcelona and the other in Madrid. Would smokers and growers still be up for yet another cannabis fair? Happily, it was very soon evident that the name Highlife is a good indicator of success – and public! Before the fair had even opened its doors there was already a crowd of fans standing outside patiently to be allowed in. And with that the tone was set, because in the days that followed the Spanish public continued to stream in en masse. A report.

The rain came down like stair rods from heaven in Barcelona on the first day of the fair. The question was: was this a good thing or a bad thing for the numbers of visitors that could be expected over the coming days? In retrospect this remained something of an open question, since although it was reasonably busy, it was certainly not as busy as during the first day of the first Spanish edition of the fair, last year. But all in all there were still many thousands of visitors wandering about, who especially on the first day had plenty of space. That was not so strange, given that the paths between the stands were considerably wider than they were last year, when the fair was held at a different location. Then it was the glass pyramid of the Fira de Cornella in L’Obregat, and this year it was decided to have the fair at the much larger and more spacious congress centre of La Farga, in the L’Hospitalet suburb. The reason for the change of location was not so much to do with the atmosphere of the place, but for its location: La Farga is one of Barcelona’s best-known congress halls and is easily accessible by car, metro or taxi. Situated in a bustling residential district with many cafés, bars and restaurants, it is furthermore an ideal spot for stand holders to easily escape the hustle and bustle of the fair for a quick snack or a drink outside.

Just as last year, a large proportion of visiting numbers were generated by the mainstream media in Spain, who went large right from the start with their reports on the toking Hollanders from Highlife. Not only local radio and TV stations were creating this publicity, but national too: large items were published in such well-known daily newspapers as El Pais and La Vanguardia, while the most important national TV station also put in a good word. Highlife’s Spanish press officer Pedro Galindo had a pretty busy time of it. As Pedro put it: “The demand from pres and media before the fair was pretty overwhelming. Radio stations in particular were commenting non-stop on the character of the fair, and I’m talking about real radio stations at all levels: local, regional and national. There were even programmes where listeners during the show could phone in to give their comments live on air about the coffee shop phenomenon in general, and the Highlife fair in Barcelona in particular. Radio Catalunya, Radio Nacional deEspagna (a radio station run by the government! – ed.) and Radio Zero were a few of the stations who devoted a large slice of their programming to the Highlife fair. Also in terms of television there was a lot of interest.. Local TV stations such as Channel 25 and even the Basque regional TV came and did large reports with their star reporters. Almost without exception the overall tone of the reports was very positive. What was noticeable in all of this was that the mainstream media was mainly producing reports about the cannabis world as a legitimate business sector. That hemp for example could serve as a cheap alternative raw material for many products, is something that in Spain was not widely appreciated. Hemp used in cosmetics products or food also attracted a lot of attention. And of course the media was interested in the medicinal aspect of cannabis use. There were quiet a lot of wheelchair users to be seen among the public, who had come here to seek out information about the medical and therapeutic applications of cannabis. In the media here, people have been very positive about this aspect.

“That you can also smoke the stuff was something portrayed in a lot of media as the ‘fun side’ of cannabis. But that in Spain there are now more than 400 shops that are involved in one way or another in generating their business from cannabis, that was something that remained the unifying thread through most media reports. The Spanish of around 30 million euros per year, that seems to me like a fair comment.”

The high point of the fair –for most grow shops who were there at least - was without doubt the announcement of the winners of the second Spanish Highlife Cup. Employees of the Spanish edition of Soft Secrets had, amid the greatest of security, prepared and executed this cup for connoisseurs, with the prize giving up on the main podium as the grand climax. A few shopkeepers leapt in the air with delight, when it was announced that they had won. There is no greater recognition of your workmanship than this. The surprising winner of the Super cup (the winner among winners, the champion of champions) was a variety of hash made with the Iceo-lator, diluted with hash oil.

Text and photos: Charlie Stone Highlife Cup Spain 2005

Highlife Super Cup 2005:

AK47 x Pot of Gold / Sant Yerbasi There was a whole lot of vaporizing going on in Spain…

What was noticeable was that the mainstream media was mainly producing reports about the cannabis world as a legitimate business sector.

Best Stand:

Greenhouse Seed Company (Holland)

The Design Studio ’93 dance troupe gave a perfect show

Said Frank, the lucky winner from the San Yerbasi shop, about his champion: “The hash I entered for the cup I made with the Ice-o-lator. I used two varieties for it: Pot of Gold from the Flying Dutchman mixed with hash oil from an AK-47 from Serious Seeds. It is just jelly-hash and has no special name or anything like that. The plants were grown in a simple organic style. Last year I also won, and that was a third prize for my Kali Mist hash. I have also won a few smaller, local cups, but with this Highlife Cup I feel I have really won big time – and I am extremely grateful for the honour. The Highlife Fair is, in a single word, awesome, and it is certainly the best thing that has happened to the Spanish cannabis scene in recent years. Highlife has become a highly valued and very respected name in our industry. We always go to the Highlife fairs in Holland, to get a lot of at the latest products and developments and to make the vital contacts. We are also very happy with the Spanish edition of Soft Secrets, that without doubt has grown in just a couple of years in to the most popular cannabis publication in Spain. The concept is marvellous: because it is free, everyone takes a copy with them. And the grow stories in it are the best of their sort.”

One of the Spanish sponsors of the fair was the Eltac company (www.eltacnet.com), that with various models of lamp is active in the indoor market in Spain. Juan, their spokesman, said: “We are a sponsor this year because we see the importance of the Highlife Fair and it is a way of bringing our lamps to a wider public. We presented our new Daystar lamp, a 400-Watter that effectively does the work of two 400 Watt lamps. We have been getting an enormous response from the growers themselves, and that is why it was important for us to be here. We get a lot of questions about our products and about growing itself, from which it has been clear to see that indoor growing is growing rapidly in popularity in Spain. The knowledge and the know-how of the home growers is pretty high, and we have noticed that they are very open to new developments. If we sometimes explain certain things to them, we find that we are occasionally corrected, then they are more knowledgeable than we are, ha-ha. The results you get from indoor growing are better than with outdoor, you have less trouble from insects and are not so dependent on the weather. Because you have all the important factors under your control, you can achieve far better results and that speaks volumes to every grower.

“We expect that the indoor market in Spain is only going to get bigger, as it will in other countries such as Italy, and that is why we place such importance on a very professional fair like Highlife.” year with the preparations for this second edition. I can say that I am very happy with how it has turned out. My customers the stand holders are happy, and that is what counts. Fortunately, the public came in good numbers, despite two earlier cannabis fairs this year in Spain, and that gave us a very good feeling. Three cannabis fairs a year in a country like Spain is actually too many, but I know that in any case we have been the favourite with the public. With more than 130 stands we are also by far the biggest fair, also because a lot of our stand holders come from countries other than Spain, such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel and even from India. Having the leading position from among the current fairs is something that we must hold on to, and I can also look forward with a relaxed heart to future fairs put on by Highlife in Spain.”

Finally, organiser Boy Ramsahai, who can look back with great satisfaction on his second international Highlife fair, had this to say. “The first day, if I’m honest, was a little disappointing in terms of visitor numbers, but fortunately that was more than made up for in the two days that followed. How big a part the bad weather and the other cannabis fairs played in the visitor numbers is hard to say, but in any case I am happy. In comparison with last year there are a whole load of new Spanish shops present, so that offers a lot of hope for the coming years. There were a few fewer Dutch companies here this year, but that was mostly due to the fact that their Spanish distributors had done all the work, which is just as it should be. There was also an overall growth in the number of stands with hemp clothing and other applications and I’m also overjoyed about that. As a publisher, Discover can also be very happy; we have found new distributors and advertisers here, for all our publications, and that is also very important. I have also received almost unanimously good reports from the stand holders, and from the businessto-business point of view there have been some top deals done here. “

All in all, the second edition of the Highlife Fair in Barcelona can be classified as a great success, and Highlife wishes to thank all its public, the stand holders and of course the sponsors. Until next year, hasta la vista!