My soberness ended when a blue and white Cookies-branded fake gun was shoved in my face. The trigger was pulled and smoke came out.
I adjusted the sparkling devil horns resting on my head and breathed in the wafting aroma of marijuana, my eyes focused on the basketball hoop in front of me. I sunk the ball into the hoop — I was gunning for a small glass pipe on the reward table at the event hosted by Embarc.
The Sinners vs. Saints Devil’s Lettuce Party was sponsored by Embarc, Chico’s Best, Free Up Clothing, Mucho Mocha Espresso and Power 102.1.
Nick Ponce from Free Up Clothing said they wanted to give back to the community. Ponce explained that the pandemic killed his business, but recently they have been trying to revive community engagement with events like this one.
As people shuffled in and out — wearing a variety of angel or demon costumes — they enjoyed live music, free food, carnival games and lots of weed. Some arrived in very detailed costumes; one person had a light up halo and large angel wings, another wore what looked like jedi robes and darth maul face paint.
Organizers of the event pulled attendees in costumes they liked over to the side and let them know they’re in the running for best costume. The prize was valued at hundreds of dollars worth of marijuana products.
“Let’s just say that they won’t need to go to the dispensary in a while,” Ponce said.
As the munchies began to hit, attendees walked over to Tacos El Lider — the food truck at the event. Later in the night I bought a burrito which was preyed upon by multiple people who asked for a bite.
As I munched on the burrito I spoke with a red-eyed guy who was snuggling a dab rig. Truthfully, I had no idea what he was saying most of the time but he seemed to be having fun.
“You seem like the type of guy who would have rolling papers,” he said to me.
I shook my head and he wandered off to go bother other people for rolling papers. He didn’t seem to know that there were rolling papers and weed freely available at one of the tables.
When I finally had enough tickets for everything I wanted, I walked over to the prize booth. On the table sat pipes, stickers, hats, keychains, ash trays, lighters and bags. I traded in my 12 tickets for a glass pipe, an Embarc lighter — which I let the red-eyed guy borrow and never got back — and some stickers.
After pocketing my prizes I entered a raffle for a goodie bag created by Timeless Vapes — which offered cannabis products such as 510 batteries and other merchandise at Embarc.
Chico’s Best — which was founded by Chico grads and sells its cannabis products at Chico’s Embarc — held a booth offering free bud, stickers and merch inside the Chico Women’s Club.
While listening to the DJ cook it up and browsing the Chico’s Best booth, someone who works with Chico’s Best walked up to me and handed me a joint, disposable vape pen and a lighter — one of three lighters I collected during the event.
I was confused why this free event came with free weed. I assumed you would need to buy weed to get high or bring your own. But Chico’s Best was there to make sure everyone got high and stayed high until the end of the night.
Ponce is hoping to do more events like this at the Chico Women’s Club and is hoping to open it up to people with marijuana medical cards as well.
Chris Hutton can be reached at [email protected].
MEEP // Oct 31, 2024 at 9:56 pm
looovvvvveeee dis article. More content like this please. Love the narrative. TELL ME ABOUT COLLEGE LIFE IN CHICO AND WEIRD FREE WEED PARTIES
Enoch // Oct 28, 2024 at 4:37 pm
I don’t think any of us old stoners thought this day would come. A lot of suffering went before this kind of liberty became available.