Albany dispensary celebrates cannabis with Harvest Fest

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Cannabis harvest season has begun in the capital region, causing one Albany dispensary to celebrate. The Royale Flower Dispensary held an event Saturday evening to support farmers and educate the community on all things cannabis.

The "Harvest Fest" was a first-time event for the Royale Flower Dispensary. The goal was to ensure customers of all ages could become more informed on cannabis.

“There’s so many vast variations of generations that are here from young to old and people are realizing that it's actually something that is helpful," said Julie Dellio, director of social media and marketing for Juniper Jill Cannabis Company.

Farmers harvest cannabis for about a couple months, until October. Christine Richardson, the owner of Royale Flower Dispensary said this year's harvest, may be one for the books.

“We harvest right at frost, which we've had an incredible harvest year," said Christine. "We haven't had a lot of rain and its been very sunny so you actually can manage your plants better when you have nicer weather."

Christine opened her dispensary in February 2024. Since then, she said business has been booming, and she believes that will continue.

“I expect the sales to go up, and its holidays," said Christine. "I think it's going to be a really great season and we have a lot of new growers."

After the harvest, cannabis must be tested before its sold in dispensaries. This is why Christine believes the more dispensaries exist, the safer consuming cannabis will be.

 “I think we're going to have a lot of stores open and I think it's great to have many stores so that we can have safety around the whole capital region,” said Christine.

Dozens of local cannabis brands set up shop on Saturday right outside the Royale Dispensary for the Harvest Fest. They spoke about safety and what they hope the future of the cannabis industry will look like. Plus, each one of the brands, brought something unique to the table.

"Our whole thing is that we just use whole premium flower," said Cole Pearlman, sales assistant for Heavy Hitters.

"A lot less batteries going out to landfills and we got a recycling program available too," said Tyler Dorien, sales representative with Eureka. "We also partner with CleanHub too so for everyone one purchase, we take two out of the ocean."

Some customers hope Saturday's education can erase the negative stigmas surrounding cannabis use.

"I just want it to be more normalized because a lot of people do find it helpful to relax," said Adam Migirditch, a regular customer at Royale Flower Dispensary.

There will be another event similar to the Harvest Fest on Oct. 26 at the Royale Flower Dispensary in Albany. Christine said this event will be a costume party to bring the cannabis community together.

"Cannabis can help a lot of people and it brings a lot of people together in a nice friendly environment," said Tyler.