December Premier Issue

Our Premier Issue

Michigan's Growing Cannabis Tourism Industry

Welcome to The Nest designed for comfort, luxury, and cannabis

The Nest specializes in curated cannabis experiences that range from paddle boarding to infusion dinners, all with overnight accommodations with cannabis on site. Guests enjoy fully remodeled suites with all the amenities of home, as well as all their cannabis needs.

Cannabis Travel Agency, Bud & Breakfast, Consumption Music Events

All Rolled Into Derive Travel

Dec 7, 2022

Connie Maxim-Sparrow announces a new company that will book cannabis-friendly travel, lodging and events. It’s the new direction for HatchAPlanMI, formerly a cannabis consulting company operated by Connie and her husband Dan Sparrow. Derive Travel booked cannabis curated lodging; The Nest, their home a Bud & Breakfast, and CannaBash Fest morphing into multiple regional consumption music festivals all under the Sparrow brand.

In any given year, tourism in Michigan ranks as the second or third largest industry, vying with agriculture for the No. 2 spot. Automotive remains king.

Since December 2019 when adult-use cannabis became legal in Michigan, it has become a rapidly growing tourism subsector generating sales this year from both people living in Michigan and those driving into the state from Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin, where cannabis is prohibited, projected to top $2.5 billion this year.

A growing number of cannabis-friendly attractions –from events, to lodging, to consumption lounges –are developing near or in partnership with adult-use cannabis dispensaries to make Michigan a cannabis tourism destination.

According to the 2021 Michigo (michigo.org) Cannabis Tourism Report that looked at what other cannabis-legal states were offering to make Michigan a big cannabis tourism draw, cannabisfriendly lodging was a must.

“A 2020 study of U.S. travelers with an income of at least $50,000 by MMGY Travel Intelligence and Enlighted Strategies found that six of 10 said they would likely participate in cannabis-related activity in places like Michigan where adult use is legal, with one in four already having traveled for a cannabis experience. One in three respondents had never used cannabis,” the Michigo study reports.

The first two consumption lounges – where smokers bring their own cannabis to consume with other smokers in a non -threatening environment - are Hot Box Social in Hazel Park and Kalkushka Lounge in Kalkaska. In total, 19 municipalities in Michigan have opted into allowing consumption lounges in various degrees.

In Colorado, which has been cannabis legal for about a decade, one out of two tourists said their decision was motivated by the state’s permissive attitude towards cannabis. Among Colorado’s vacationers surveyed, 49 percent said the cannabis legal status influenced their decision, with 22 percent of them saying it was “extremely influential,” the Michigo study reports.

Three out of ten survey respondents described themselves as active leisure travelers. Legalization in Colorado was associated with an increase of nearly 51,000 hotel rooms rented per month, the study shows.

In Michigan over the past three years, dozens of cannabis-friendly lodging options have sprung up, most using the Bed & Breakfast model. Click on this link from Michigan Cannabis Trail, a legacy cannabis tourism publication in Traverse City, to see a link of cannabis-friendly lodging options.

An insight gleaned from the Michigo report is this: “Across all demographic groups, age 18-65, cannabisfriendly lodging stands out as a high-demand area with low supply. Campgrounds also rate a favorable response for people 65 and older.

“With large hotel chains choosing to sit on the sidelines concerning cannabis, many small businesses and private homes are filling the gap in the marketplace.”

One such example of a home turned “Bud & Breakfast” is The Nest, owned by Dan and Connie Sparrow that opened in Muskegon in November. It also doubles as an event venue in its spacious half-acre backyard that includes an in-ground pool.

The Sparrows have added another innovative wrinkle announcing Derive Travel that will curate lodgers’ cannabis tastes with consumption products and paraphernalia to suit.

In July, they launched their first cannabis event, CannaBash Fest in Muskegon. They have plans in 2023 to produce multiple CannaBash Fests throughout Michigan.

In 2022, once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, cannabis events exploded across Michigan. Last summer, cannabis enthusiasts had multiple events to choose from every weekend; these often included music festivals, cannabis sales with open consumption, combined with nearby camping and lodging.

As a result, some Michigan dispensary groups also packaged lodging and even events to propel sales. Dunegrass Cannabis operates six dispensaries in

Beulah, Big Rapids, Cadillac, Gaylord, Manistee and Marquette. Brian Buchanan, Dunegrass Director of Tourism Strategy, said his company’s efforts are beginning to pay dividends.

Dunegrass launched a co-promotion with 420 Friendly Lodging at Higher Altitude to provide a place for cannabis tourists to stay. He said as evidence that this business strategy is paying off, the lodgings reported to him that the first day cannabis-friendly was announced, it was booked for the next two weeks.

Dunegrass also has worked closely with an annual music festival in Northern Michigan, The Hoxeyville Music Festival to offer Dunegrass THC products in a consumption lounge set up at the event. Hoxeyville also had a separate area where patrons could purchase alcohol, sanctioned by the Cannabis Regulatory Agency, which made sure the two areas did not connect.

Buchanan said the Cannabis Regulatory Agency, which governs legal cannabis activities in Michigan, was very happy with this experiment, which he said was the first time alcohol and cannabis were served at a consumption event, albeit in separate controlled access locations. Dunegrass plans to co-sponsor Hoxeyville again in 2023, and to expand its cannabis tourism partnerships with even more cannabisfriendly businesses in Northern Michigan.

Then there’s a group of Michigan and Illinois-based entrepreneurs that have partnered to launch Fields Cannary, a Muskegon space where people can enjoy food and entertainment while trying the latest cannabis products.

The new business, scheduled to open the summer of 2023, is described as “the first vertically integrated, all encompassing, cannabis hospitality business,” in a Nov. 6 news release.

Fields Cannary will include traditional cannabis operations in cultivation, extraction, dispensary, and a consumption lounge, plus the hospitality components with the restaurant, bar, event space, and an intimate outdoor amphitheater for live performances.

MUSKEGON IS BACKING ITS CANNABIS

COMMUNITY by cooperating with Canna Communication, owned by Roberta King, to promote the Muskegon Cannabis Pre-Roll Trail. A dozen adultuse dispensaries participate. Maps are available at each of the participating stores, as well as the Muskegon County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Visitors go to each dispensary, buy a pre-roll and get a stamp in their passport. Once all twelve stamps are collected, they get a free T-shirt saying they traveled the trail.

Other cannabis-friendly communities could take a cue from Muskegon and implement a similar promotion to increase green tourism, King says.

In Walled Lake, Jerry Millen, owner of Greenhouse of , has added a new wrinkle to his customer relations strategy with a food truck parked next to his dispensary that serves coffee and donuts to patrons. He purchased the food trailer from Argentina. He wanted to build a community feel for cannabis consumers, he said.

The Michigan cannabis industry has just scratched the surface of possibilities to make the Wolverine state a huge cannabis destination for not only the Great Lakes region, but also the nation.

Michigan has 3,288 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, more than 100 state parks, national forests and national parks that provide lots of four-season activities – hiking, camping, skiing, fishing, hunting. It also has 149 wineries, and more than 200 micro brewers that drew almost 100,000 beer tourists in 2018.

Just think of the possibilities when adult-use cannabis is added to the mix. Michigan’s tourism industry’s future could really be smoking.

Robert Louis Stevenson

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Dunegrass Expands Cannabis Tourism Activities In Northern Michigan And Upper Peninsula

Dunegrass Cannabis provisioning centers started to focus on promoting cannabis tourism in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula earlier this year. Brian Buchanan, Dunegrass Director of Tourism Strategy, said his company’s efforts are beginning to pay dividends.

Dunegrass operates six dispensaries in Beulah, Big Rapids, Cadillac, Gaylord, Manistee and Marquette. Buchanan said his company also works closely with at 420 Friendly Lodging at Higher Altitude.

As evidence that the strategy works, one of the lodgings reported to him that the first day cannabis announced, it was booked for the next two weeks.

Dunegrass also has worked closely with an annual music festival in Northern Michigan, The Hoxeyville music festival, to offer Dunegrass THC products in a

consumption lounge set up at the event. Hoxeyville also had a separate area where patrons could purchase alcohol, sanctioned by the Cannabis Regulatory Agency which made sure the two areas did not connect.

He said the CRA was very happy with this experiment, which he said was the first time alcohol and cannabis were served as a consumption event. Dunegrass plans to co-sponsor Hoxeyville again in 2023, and to expand its

Join Us

With this inaugural edition of our monthly magazine, Sparx & Recreation invites those in cannabis tourism and hospitality to work with us.

Over the next year, we will feature stories about the companies building cannabis tourism brands. Diverse tourism topics will be shared in the Michigan Marijuana Report and the Four20 Post LIVE video archive, reaching more than 180,000 readers on multiple social media channels.

Do you have a story to tell? We encourage you to email your story ideas to Editor Mike Brennan.

Are you an industry leader? You have a great opportunity to demonstrate your leadership: become a founding sponsor of Sparx & Recreation. Beyond the new magazine, our website, email newsletter, social media, and industry leader interviews will all benefit from your sponsorship. Be the first in your category – including lounges, lodging, events, dispensaries, travel, restaurants, bars, and much more.

To get involved, contact Publisher Dan Keelan.