The Guadalupe city council voted Tuesday to reject a proposal for a large-scale music and cannabis festival at Jack O’Connell Park. Some council members raised concerns about excessive cannabis use, traffic, noise and neighborhood impacts.
Local cannabis operator SLO CAL Roots proposed the Guadalupe Greens Festival as a two-day event featuring live music, food vendors, a classic car show, and a regulated cannabis village for adults 21 and older.
Founder Austen Connella estimated the event could increase tourism drawing up to 10,000 attendees per day, while creating up to 250 temporary jobs.
He also told council members 'it's an opportunity for new revenue to flow into the city.
“Every city operational cost from police, fire, staff time would be billed at cost directly to us,” Connella said. “The city wouldn't absorb a dollar of that. So, there would be a net financial gain to the city of approximately $70,000 to $90,000.”
According to city documents, organizers projected the city would gain up to $76,000 of revenue through ticket contributions, sales taxes and permit fees. Organizers also estimated another $23,000 could be gained through food vendor allocations and a cannabis community benefit agreement that mandates cannabis operators to invest in local nonprofit organizations.
However, some council members were about hosting a cannabis-centered event in Guadalupe, especially at an all-ages festival.
Mayor Ariston Julian said he supported the idea of creating more events for the city, but believed the proposal was too large and sent the wrong message about cannabis use.
“You can have the group but then it impacts [the] community more than physically, but in terms of where we stand with cannabis,” Julian said during the meeting. “Again, it's legal, but it sends a different message.”
Council members also questioned whether the proposal conflicted with Guadalupe’s anti-smoking policies and voiced concerns about traffic along Highway 1, noise impacts and the size of the event compared to the city’s population of about 8,700 residents.
After no council member made a motion to move the proposal forward, the council voted 3-1 to formally reject the festival.
