Paul Szmal: Welcome back to FLX Morning, it is 8.15 and we're sitting at 61, a little bit cooler than it's been the past couple of days. Our dispensary correspondent is here, that would be Daryl Hilkert from High Points Dispensary on Routes 5 and 20 in Geneva. Morning bud.
Darryl Hilkert: Hey Paul, how are you doing today?
Paul Szmal: Doing well, doing well. So what's new and exciting in the world?
Darryl Hilkert: You know, just living the dream one day at a time and this Saturday we have, next Saturday, a week from tomorrow, we have our second annual parking lot party, Meet the Vendors. Last year was quite successful, we had about 18 vendors in the parking lot, got good awesome barbecue coming back again, they do really good food, we got Shaq Water gonna be playing some live music from 1 to 4 and we'll have the party set up so you can get in and out of the sun if it's warm and hot out and it's a good time if anybody's out and about it's 12 to 6, live music will be 1 to 4 and yeah, come on out and have a good time.
Paul Szmal: And what's the purpose when you do these vendor days, is this kind of a way of introducing people and product to the customer base?
Darryl Hilkert: Yep, it gives the public time to come in and meet the actual people behind the scenes that are the cultivators, the processors and all that, you can come and talk to them about their products, how they make it, what they make it with and you know, there's a lot to it nowadays, you know, strains and percentages and all that good stuff that you know has never ever been a thing in the past, so people can come in and stroll around and chat with all the people, they'll have like blanks on infused products that you can try just to get the taste and see if you like stuff like that for like the gummies and edibles and then yeah, lots of giveaways and fun stuff.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and that's the thing is there's going to be a wide variety of products represented, not just flour, but as you mentioned, gummies and edibles and it seems like the gummy and the edible market has really exploded here over the past year.
Darryl Hilkert: Yeah, it's done real well. The first couple of years of legalization, the gray market really was way too potent and way too strong. So people got a very bad vibe for an edible, they would eat one and they would be in a different time zone and you know, not controllable, but with New York, you know, regulating everything to a 10 milligram, it's actually a dose, you know, it's very similar to an alcoholic drink. There's so much in one unit, so you can control it, you know, some people can have one drink and feel it. Some people drink six of them before they feel it.
Paul Szmal: Right. And it's not just drinks, but it's, as you said, edibles. I mean, things like candy bars and I mean, there's what, a wide variety of stuff.
Darryl Hilkert: Oh yeah, there's everything now. There's caramels and chocolates and popsicles and just gummies, you name it. Brownie mixes.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, the popsicles, that's a new one for me.
Darryl Hilkert: Yeah, yeah. And it's really good for a nice hot day.
Paul Szmal: Oh yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
We're talking with Daryl Hilkert. He's our dispensary correspondent here on FLX Morning, talking about the big vendor event that's coming up a week from tomorrow. So that'll be August 23rd from noon until six. That'll be at High Points Dispensary, which is on five and 20 in Geneva. By the way, congratulations on the FLX Finest Award.
Darryl Hilkert: Thank you. Appreciate that.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. Voted best dispensary in the Finger Lakes. So you guys have got to feel pretty good about that.
Darryl Hilkert: Oh, yeah, we do. And we take good pride in that.
Paul Szmal: And, you know, I find it interesting that there seems to be not a day that goes by that there isn't some new type of product or new strain of product that is coming up. This industry has really just kind of, you know, vaulted into the stratosphere in terms of the amount of items that are available and in a variety of strains, too. It's not just about the THC, as we've talked about before. There are so many other different products with different purposes, different intentions and different uses.
Darryl Hilkert: Yep. Yeah. It's all the different cannabinoids that they use so that they can mix in with any of the consumables. So and that's what helps you with with all different kinds of feelings, whether it's, you know, needing sleep or pain relief or anxiety, you know, and it comes in all forms, low dose, high dose, all structured for personalized to your feelings.
Paul Szmal: Right. And it depends on what purpose you want. Like, say you've got chronic back pain. You can come into a dispensary like High Points and you can ask the question of, OK, well, what would be something that would be appropriate for this? And there's going to be a variety of options available.
Darryl Hilkert: Correct. Yep. And then you'd look for the cannabinoid that that specifically targets that that feeling for pain. You know, it's a CBC, which is non-psychoactive. It's not THC, but it's mixed in with the THC. So you get the benefits of the THC, but more the benefits of the CBC for the pain relief.
Paul Szmal: Right. Right. And that's opposed to a CBD, which is what most of us are commonly exposed to as being the not maybe not necessarily the pain relief portion, but the kind of chill portion, the relaxed portion.
Darryl Hilkert: Yeah, but it does help with pain also. It's just over the years, CBD was always legal and it was something you used just for relief. You didn't use it for, you know, catching any kind of a buzz or anything like that.
Paul Szmal: Right. But when you mix it with a little THC, it works that much better.
Darryl Hilkert: And you can get a low dose THC. So you're not feeling the effects of the high, you know, you're just getting the benefits of the product.
Paul Szmal: And I have to ask you, when you first put this place together, the design of the inside, whose idea was that?
Darryl Hilkert: Well, we took the base structure of the building, but, you know, I pretty much designed it the way it is. I've been in construction for over 30 years, did a lot of buildouts through my days. So it kind of helped by walking in there and having a focus on what we wanted and what we were looking for. And, you know, we accomplished that.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, because I have said to people that you walk in and it's like walking into a jewelry store. I don't know if that was that was somewhat intentional with the way the display cases were set up, both the floor display cases and the standing display cases that are there.
Darryl Hilkert: Yeah, we, well, all the products have to be locked. So we had to come up with a way to be able to display everything so people could actually see what the packaging looks like and then to put the products out also. So you get to see what you're getting. A lot of people old school, they were if they're after flower, they want to see it and smell it and touch it. Unfortunately, we can't go to that level, but we can make it where you can see exactly what you're getting. But we're able to display all of our products and having 700 plus products in the store right now, there's such a variety and there's something for everybody.
Paul Szmal: Is there anything new that's coming on the horizon that you've kind of heard about that might be coming down the pipeline?
Darryl Hilkert: I there's so much new stuff out there in the last year and, you know, there's hundreds of processors out there. So they're making all different kinds of stuff. I mean, caramels and, you know, different candy bars and just there's so much stuff out there. The drinks, it's not all about smoking anymore. It's it's really maybe a 50 50. Right. So consumables are actually coming around. And once people get to try them and get the effects of them, see how they work. I think it's going to be a growing thing. And it also helps with the general public. People can be out and about in public and be able to consume without smoking. And because the person out there having dinner or something outside might not want to smell cannabis, you know, that's the worst. That's the worst stigmatism about cannabis is people smelling it. So the edibles kind of take that out of the equation. And you can consume and and keep everybody happy.
Paul Szmal: So, again, the vendor event is coming up on the 23rd of August. That is a week from tomorrow, from noon to six over at High Points Dispensary. And again, how many how many vendors are you going to have there?
Darryl Hilkert: We're hoping probably close to 20. We had 18 of them last year and we got a lot of commitments this year. And yeah, we're just hoping for a great day. The weather has been great this year. So I'm hoping for no rain. Like I said, we do got a big tent coming. If it is bad weather, we'll still be able to carry on. And yeah, Shack Water is a local band. They're they're very good. And I think they'll do they'll put on a good show. And Big Awesome Barbecue does a real good job with the food. So hoping for a good day and come on out and have a good time.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. And I want to give a shout out to if you want to find out more information about High Points Dispensary website.
Darryl Hilkert: Yep. It's highpointsdispensary.net. You can go online and you can actually shop online. You can if you if you pay for your product through the online shopping, you can drive right up to the pickup window. You don't even have to come in. But many people do like to come in just so they can browse and see the abundance of products that we have. And pretty much every week we have something new in the store. And of course, I also want to point out this is a New York state regulated and governed dispensary.
Paul Szmal: Correct. So.
All right, man. Good to have you back. And hopefully I'll and not that it's going to matter. I'll try to put in a word with the big guy for some good weather for you for next Saturday so that everything goes down nice and smooth. I've had a chance to go to the one of these vendor days before. And if you've never had the opportunity and you're even remotely curious about some of the types of product that are offered, I thoroughly encourage you to go check it out because you're going to get a lot of information and be able to get your questions answered from the people that make these products themselves.
Darryl Hilkert: So, yep, absolutely. And, you know, some people out there still are curious and they haven't walked through the door. This is a chance you can just come in and walk through the parking lot and enjoy some music and food. You don't even have to step inside to learn about some of the products. And we'll have our own people out there also to answer any questions or any curiosity anyone has about products. Stop in.
Paul Szmal: All right. Now, again, that is a week from tomorrow, August 23rd from noon until six. Darrell, thank you.
Darryl Hilkert: Pleasure as always, sir.
Paul Szmal: Thank you. Thanks for having me. All right. It is eight twenty seven on AFL-X morning.
