3 October 2023
On an unseasonably warm and sunny September afternoon, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura sweated it out on a tiny stage in a tent, flanked by a nurse and a former police officer.
A few dozen people had gathered, sitting in folding chairs, phones ready to record the upcoming presentation — espousing the benefits of cannabis.
Ventura, long an advocate for legal weed, gave his cartoon-character-surreal speech at the fourth annual Legacy Cup, a Sept. 30 event at Surly’s Festival Field celebrating cannabis in all its forms. This year was by far the most well-attended for the event, and it was also the first year that adult-use cannabis, in all its forms, was fully legal in Minnesota.
“I tried marijuana for the first time … and my response to it was, ‘Wow! This is way better — I don’t even want to drink anymore,’” Ventura told the crowd, who responded with enthusiastic “yeahs.”
Ventura went on to discuss his use of cannabis for pain management. Many other wrestlers from his day got addicted to pain medications after getting injured during matches, Ventura said.
“I used cannabis,” Ventura said. “Maybe that’s why I’m alive today.”
Legacy Cup attracted between 12,000 and 15,000 people, according to organizers, who were still counting ticket sales Monday morning. It featured live hip-hop music, ganja games like a joint-rolling and bong-hit contest, and vendors sampling and selling everything from THC-infused beverages to gummies, cookies, pretzels and more. Additionally, fest-goers were allowed to smoke marijuana on the field. A special tent was dedicated to smoking — many of the high-top tables inside sported bongs as centerpieces — but the air smelled heavily of marijuana smoke all over the field.
Though Surly Festival Field normally has a capacity of 4,000, the come-and-go nature of the 21+ event meant many more could and would attend, causing a bottleneck of traffic all the way up University Avenue.
Organizer Josh Wilken-Simon, who owns Legacy Glassworks, a head shop that sells upscale glass pipes and bongs made by local artisans, started Legacy Cup in 2019.
“I just saw that there wasn’t anything, event-wise, surrounding cannabis in the Twin Cities,” Wilken-Simon said.
Wilken-Simon, who spent a lot of time at the capitol this year, lobbying and testifying as adult-use cannabis legalization was working its way through, said that historically, “there hasn’t always been a space for cannabis users to gather. It used to be in a garage or in the alley.”
Festival-goers enter Surly Festival Field at the 2023 Legacy Cup on Sept. 30, 2023. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)
The first Legacy Cup, which is at its core a friendly competition between cannabis businesses, was mostly CBD products. Last year, after the state quantified rules on hemp-based THC products, lines for the event, held at the way-too-small Minneapolis Cider Co., stretched so far that event workers had to turn people away. Still, 6,000 people attended, and Wilken-Simon knew he had to find a bigger venue.
This year’s 142 vendors — 135 of which are based in Minnesota — were obviously looking to gain a foothold in the market before dispensaries open. The dizzying array of products they are selling now will expand once non-THC-based cannabis products can be legally sold, which should happen in late 2024 or early 2025.
Business owners like Kayla Fearing, who also helped organize Legacy Cup this year, aren’t waiting for that day. Fearing’s business, Healing Fear Consulting, helps patients manage pain, stress and medical conditions using cannabis.
Fearing, a former physical therapist, said the biggest thing an event like Legacy Cup can do for the industry is to help remove the stigma associated with using cannabis.
“One of the biggest things I had to explain to people here is that you can eat a gummy and you’ll wake up just fine in the morning,” Fearing said.
Fearing grew up in St. Paul but recently returned here from Michigan, where adult-use recreational cannabis has been legal since 2018.
Vendors handed out samples of cannabis cookies at the 2023 Legacy Cup, which attracted between 12,000 and 15,000 people to Surly Festival Field on Saturday, Sept. 30. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)
She specializes in helping athletes, addicts, and those diagnosed with autism or dementia, but Fearing said just about anyone can benefit from occasional or regular use of the plant. She’s excited about the possibilities as more products are released.
“I’ve been able to support myself with this business since February, just helping people get off opioids and onto marijuana.”
Fearing and Wilken-Simon say their goal is to just keep growing.
“I want to scale up this event year after year,” Wilken-Simon said. “The goal is for it to be a household name and to keep bringing people celebrating cannabis culture together.”
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