Southwest Michigan dispensaries prep for their first 4/20 crowds

 

BERRIEN COUNTY, Mich. -- Dispensaries all over Southwest Michigan are getting prepped and ready for big crowds, with 4/20 on the horizon.

"I'm expecting these doors here will get taken off here tomorrow!" said Jared Schlender, the Chief Science Officer at Nobody's Home in Benton Harbor, which opened up back in July.

"That's what we're excited for, we're expecting it," Schlender said. "We're gonna have food carts, all that stuff here. It's gonna be a good time!"

And about thirty minutes South, another dispensary and cannabis lounge-- Rolling Embers-- is getting ready for its grand opening in New Buffalo on 4/20.

"We're super excited to be able to open up here tommorrow and invite all of the cannabis community to our location here to enjoy," said General Manager Chris Rader. "We've got a lot of great products here from Michigan's finest care-givers."

The owners have worked on Rolling Embers for about a year, and when they saw they could open up so close to the holiday, it was an opportunity they had to take.

This dispensary is the first for New Buffalo, but that's not the only thing that makes it special.

"We have on-site consumption here, which we're real excited about, so anything you purchase inside-- you can step out here and commune and consume with your friends," said Rader.

Rolling Embers is just one of three dispensaries in the state with a consumption lounge-- and the only one outdoors.

Rader said "It's an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather here if it holds out over the next couple of days. You can sit out here by the fire pit and keep warm. We'll also have live music and food trucks here over the next three days."

While the staff is excited-- and getting ready to go-- they say they're not entirely sure what to expect, but they feel being the first to open in New Buffalo and having that consumption lounge is going to make Rolling Embers a special place for its visitors.

"We're very close to the beach, there's a lot of great restaurants and art galleries in town," said Rader. "We have the casino just around the corner for us. We feel that we're positioned geographically very well to allow the community to already enjoy everything going on here and have a little something extra special on top."