Paradise Seeds has a long history of attending Spannabis Barcelona, Spain’s famous cannabis expo. It is certainly the biggest and arguably the most successful expo on mainland Europe – attracting 30,000+ visitors over three days and hosting the cream of cannabis company exhibitors from around the world.
2002: The Beginning of Spannabis Barcelona
The world was a very different place in 2002. George W. Bush was ramping up the War on Terror , The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was the world’s highest grossing movie and the biggest artists in music were Ashanti, Nelly and Nickelback and Brazil won the World Cup in Japan.
Meanwhile, the cannabis world was also looking very different at that time. The market was still dominated by regular seeds (feminized marijuana seeds were just starting to filter through) and the cannabis seed company playing field was very small and dominated by a handful of Dutch companies. Amongst this small group of players was Paradise Seeds who had arrived in Spain at the beginning of the new century fresh off the back of high profile Cup victories with Sensi Star .
The expo may have had more humble beginnings in terms of audience numbers but the original venue – the Palau Sant Jordi was an impressive one. The following year Spannabis moved to the Fira de Cornellá, which has been home for the past 20 years. The venue has become legendary with cannabis fans, its constant state of busy activity and closely packed aisles giving a Moroccan souk like quality to the experience! Not so long ago, before smoking inside was banned, the air would be so thick with cannabis smoke that a visitor could become intoxicated without taking a single puff!
2002: Paradise Seeds in Spain
Paradise Seeds has plenty of history in Spain. By the time of the first Spannabis Barcelona , Paradise Seeds already had a core audience who were there to buy cannabis seeds such as Sensi Star, Belladonna, Scheherazade (soon to be re-branded as Dutch Dragon), Sweet Purple and Amsterdam Flame. As well as bringing these strains to Spanish growers, Paradise was also instrumental in sharing growing knowledge, while also learning lessons from its new friends in how to make the most of Mediterranean outdoor cannabis grow conditions. In the sun kissed conditions the Paradise weed strains performed at the next level and Spanish growers liked what they saw too!
Back then, the scene was very different. Paradise Seeds founder, Luc Krol, remembers the early Spannabis expos. “This was in the days when the crowd was more hippy influenced! The crowd was smaller too, but it was super friendly and a very tight knit community of growers who were sharing their experience and accumulated knowledge. In those early days we would have growers coming to the stand to show us these big buds of Sensi Star they had grown! Amazingly the police didn’t really bother anyone, even though they would enter the expo and walk around the building just to check everything. The organisers kept saying , ‘No smoking, no smoking indoors!’… but of course everyone was smoking! In the end they gave up trying!”
Patrick Paradise who runs the orders department at Paradise was also there in the early days, where he was well known on the scene as his alter ego ‘Ali Baba’ (appearing on the stand in a custom made Sheik costume to sell Paradise Seeds cannabis seeds!). He remembers the first Spannabis,”It was crazy full of people. Everything that was not nailed down was stolen, posters were removed from walls and within the first hour we were up to our ankles in wastepaper. The toilets had no light, seat or toilet paper! It was like anarchy but filled with the nicest, friendliest bandidos you could find. We loved it!”
2022: Spannabis Barcelona Cannabis expo returns!
Paradise has continued to have a rewarding relationship with growers in Spain over the years and it has a special place in our hearts and not just because of sales of cannabis seeds. In 2013 and 2014, Spain was the destination for the Medical Cannabis Bike Tour for which Paradise was a main sponsor
Inevitably things will be slightly different for Spannabis Barcelona in 2022, in terms of ensuring visitor safety during Covid times. Nevertheless, after a two year absence, Spanish visitors (not to mention those from the rest of Europe and around the world) will be tingling with excitement at the prospect of reuniting with that unique Spannabis vibe and with very good reason! The Paradise Seeds crew looks forward to seeing you there!
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