Nuwu Cannabis Marketplace near downtown Las Vegas celebrated its 1-year anniversary with fanfare and vendors on Oct. 13, 2018.
Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018 | 2 a.m.
The one-year anniversary celebration of the valley’s largest cannabis dispensary had the qualities of a full-fledged pot festival on Saturday.
Owners of the Nuwu Cannabis Marketplace mega dispensary brought more than three dozen industry vendors, a DJ and food trucks to celebrate a successful first year of its 15,800-square foot facility on tribal land near downtown Las Vegas.
“We really hoped for this,” said Alfreda Mitre, councilwoman for the Las Vegas Paiutes. “Cannabis is very important for our economic well-being as a sovereign group.”
The Paiutes welcomed more than 500 buyers into the store by noon, a figure that rivals numbers from Nuwu’s largest sales date on the April 20 "pot holiday." Outside the dispensary, hundreds shopped at outdoor vendors and walked through the festival.
California resident Mariano Salinas was one such visitor to the dispensary. Standing with one-eighth ounce of Gorilla Glue #4 strain marijuana in a sealed bag purchased inside, Salinas chatted with representatives from cultivator Virtue Las Vegas on the development of Nevada’s marijuana industry.
Salinas, a 36-year-old Los Angeles resident who regularly visits Las Vegas, said he was impressed with how the local marijuana scene has developed since recreational pot sales started in July 2017.
“It’s really incredible,” Salinas said. “The quality of the weed here is great and it seems like there are always new places opening. It’s something else.”
Pro-pot politicians Steve Sisolak, Tick Segerblom, Cedric Creer and Lawrence Weekly were among state and local officials to attend part of Nuwu’s 10-hour celebration.
Sisolak, the Democratic nominee for Nevada governor in next month’s election, called the marketplace “a huge plus for jobs.” The dispensary employs about 100 people.
“The Paiutes are really leading the way for tribal cannabis,” Sisolak said. “It’s very impressive.”
Just days before Saturday’s one-year Nuwu anniversary party, the tribe told the Sun of its plans to build a second, smaller dispensary on tribal land near Centennial Hills. The Paiutes are also developing a cultivation facility in that area, set to open at the end of 2019.
