Following the signing of House Bill 1325 and the legalization of industrial hemp and indirectly CBD in the process, trade shows, panel discussions and workshops of all types have popped up across all regions of Texas, from the largest metropolitan areas in Dallas and Houston to the panhandle of Lubbock. Even if the overarching theme of the events is similar, each of the conferences themselves have their own forte or specialty within the vastly complex subject of hemp cultivation and utilization.
Although, a hemp conference this upcoming January hosted by a group of veterans in hemp/cannabis event planning in Dallas is marketing itself as an event so over-encompassing and thorough that the very daunting title the event is called may be an indicator of its potential to be monumental for the burgeoning industry of this crop that we’ve only recently been allowed to cultivate within the state.
Being active in the Washington state cannabis industry during the initial days of legalization, UC-Colorado Springs graduate Chase Nobles and the company he founded in 2014, Kush.com, have been hosting cannabis and hemp-centric events and building connections within the industry for half a decade. Starting as originally as a cannabis tourism company, Kush Tourism served as a website dedicated to providing information and event recommendations to those travelling across the country for legal cannabis consumption.
From there, a marketplace was built from the community on the platform, one that Nobles described as “a wholesale trading platform for all the farmers to find liquidity through buyer and vendor networks and vice versa.”
Beginning with hosting live marketplace events in Washington with a focus on education, the ultimate goal was simply to have those in the industry interact with each other. After venturing into the hemp industry, Nobles and Kush.com ended up hosting the Oregon Hemp Convention, a convention in the heart of Portland that’s running on its sixth consecutive year. Seeing the clearly evident need across the states for hemp-based events whether that be a massive convention or a small panel discussion in a local restaurant or bar, Nobles and Kush.com soon focused on constructing an event in the newest large state to legalize hemp.
Hosted on January 28-30th, 2020 in the convention center named after the longtime Texas senator and Zodiac Killer predecessor, AZ Hemp Farms-presented Texas Hemp Convention could be historic based on both Nobles’ descriptions and the attendance figures reported on the site itself. An expected 10,000 people are expected to attend, with over 300 hemp/CBD Exhibitors ready to present and an estimated 50 live shows and demonstrations. As the marketplace of Kush.com is significant with several different branches of businesses, The Texas Hemp Convention
Without going into exact specifics as to who would attend, Nobles did mention that his team is in communication with state representatives and members of Congress in Texas to appear on panel discussions to speak about the very regulations that they put in place, which will ultimately be vital as a focus of the convention is understanding the Texas laws and regulations of the growth of the crop.
“Five years ago when we started this company, we didn’t expect any state of our company in the short term to involve Texas. But now that the state has legalized hemp, we’re all so excited to do it because it shows progress. A big part of our company mission is global acceptance and if we can throw an event in Texas and open up the hemp market, that’s a big part of what we’re trying to do as a company in general.” Nobles said.
