Celebrate 4/20 with all things dank at Oskar Blues’ bluegrass festival in Longmont
By ELLA COBB | ecobb@prairiemountainmedia.com | Daily Camera
PUBLISHED: April 16, 2024 at 3:49 p.m. | UPDATED: April 16, 2024 at 6:52 p.m.
Living in Colorado, celebrating 4/20 is almost a requirement. Whether you smoke or not, the cannabis-centric holiday is an important part of our state’s cultural history — a tip of the cap toward Colorado’s early progressive stance on the legalization of recreational cannabis.
This year’s 4/20 holiday is a special one as it coincides with the state’s 10-year anniversary of the first legal sale of recreational marijuana, which took place on Jan. 1, 2014, in Denver. April 20 also happens to fall on a Saturday, which is arguably the best day of the week to lay down a picnic blanket in the park and chow down on a cheeba chew.
For us along the Front Range, there are plenty of ways to celebrate — Wiz Khalifa is headlining a show at Red Rocks, Denver’s 4/20 Festival is returning to Civic Center Park, and just about every dispensary around is offering deals and discounts.
And while weed is fantastic for those who can handle it, there remains a considerable chunk of the population who find themselves unable to comfortably manage the effects of being under the influence (re: debilitating cotton mouth or insatiable hunger). For these individuals, Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont presents an appealing alternative: The 2nd annual Dank Grass Festival. This 4/20 celebration has something for everyone: Hoppy IPAs for the weed-wary, cannabis vendors for the THC-tolerant, and a stellar lineup of bluegrass music to keep everyone happy no matter what state they’re in.
According to Byran Townsend, marketing and events manager at Oskar Blues, the event dates back to 2022, when the brewery hosted a small gathering on 4/20 in honor of a limited-addition beer in collaboration with Veritas Fine Cannabis. Attendees of the event loved the marriage of cannabis and beer so much that, the next year, Oskar Blues decided to throw a full-day celebration of all things pungent, dank, hoppy and potent.
“We like to call it our beer-centric twist on a 4/20 festival. I feel like 4/20 has lost its luster a bit, and it’s not as big as it used to be. So we wanted to create something fun and different that folks could come to — because people still want to celebrate, even if they don’t smoke,” Townsend said.
As the festival turns toward its second official year, Townsend and Oskar Blues made sure to pull out all the stops to ensure that this year is the biggest and best yet. The free festival highlights music from some of the brightest up-and-coming bluegrass artists in the country, including Ghost Town Drifters, Arkansauce, and Pixie & The Partygrass Boys. Headlining the festival is Clay Street Unit, a rooty, tooty, six-piece folkgrass band currently making waves in the Denver music scene.
And fueling the celebration, of course, is beer: This year, Oskar Blues is releasing two special pours in honor of the festival — including “Nugboat Captain,” a New-England style hazy IPA, and “Loose Jorts,” an odiferous pale ale in collaboration with Cigar City Brewing in Florida.
Those looking for a more traditional 4/20 way of celebrating can visit some of the festival’s cannabis and cannabis-inspired vendors, which include Fourteener Cannabis out of Boulder, Stashlogix and Toker Poker. Food trucks will also be available onsite to stave off any rising munchies.
Looking forward, Townsend says that he hopes Dank Grass Fest will become Oskar Blues’ signature event.
“We want to continue to grow it to be bigger each year, and eventually, we’d like for it to become a two-day festival. We just want to keep growing it and create a recurring event not just for us, but for Longmont, as well. There’s not a ton of events like that up here, and we’d like to make this a yearly festival,” Townsend said.
The 2nd Annual Dank Grass Fest kicks off at noon on Saturday, April 20 at Oskar Blues Brewery and Taproom, located at 1640 S Sunset St, Longmont. The event is free and open to the public.
