SACRAMENTO — Tickets had been on sale for about six weeks, but before Cannabis Cup California could set a music lineup or secure a permit, the half-music festival, half-smoke session has been either postponed or canceled.

It’s not clear yet whether anyone will get a refund.

The marijuana exhibition, originally set for Oct. 27-28 at Cal Expo and sponsored by High Times Magazine, has been scrapped for 2018, Sacramento Chief of Cannabis Policy Joe Devlin told The Bee on Tuesday.

The sudden absence of Cannabis Cup California on High Times’ official website seems to confirm the cancellation of October’s show.

“We have not taken that item before (city) council as of yet,” Devlin said. “I believe we’re going to be taking it sometime before the end of the year.”

The item in question is a permit for cannabis use on-site, a requirement for the legal consumption and sale of marijuana at such an event. The approval of a permit was pulled off the City Council’s law and legislation committee agenda for a Sept. 18 meeting.

The City Council committee won’t meet again until Oct. 23, just four days before the concert had been planned. Devlin said matters relating to Cannabis Cup won’t be on that agenda either.

The event will be tentatively rescheduled for April 2019, the city pot czar said. Marijuana enthusiasts who were planning on attending the “spooktacular” pre-Halloween bash will apparently be out of luck.

October’s event was canceled seemingly without any warning or announcement to potential attendees. An official website for the event that remained up as late as Friday afternoon was defunct as of Tuesday morning. Mentions of Cannabis Cup California can no longer be found on High Times’ website.

The homepage section titled “Upcoming Cannabis Cups” now lists no future exhibitions. Front Gate Tickets gives a “404 error” for the Sacramento event, but no explanation of cancellation.

There’s also no mention of postponement or cancellation on High Times’ official, still-active Facebook and Twitter feeds, which most recently promoted the event on Sept. 29. A Facebook event page remains live for the concert, with more than 7,700 users expressing interest.

Multiple Facebook users have alleged, without evidence, that High Times will not give refunds for the canceled show.

High Times has not responded to multiple requests for comment by The Bee since Friday. A phone number listed on High Times’ website for potential vendors at Cannabis Cup events was not in service as of midday Tuesday.

Tickets, anywhere from $50 to $420, went on sale as soon as the event was announced via social media on Aug. 24. It was billed as a “spooktacular return” to Sacramento.

The Cannabis Cup event in May at Cal Expo became the first legal, permitted event allowing cannabis use in California since recreational use was legalized Jan. 1. The approval passed by a 6-2 vote by Sacramento City Council members just three days before the event. High Times CEO Adam Levin said an error on the company’s part led the on-site consumption permit to be filed just 12 days in advance.

Prior to that event, Devlin told The Bee that May’s Cannabis Cup would generate an estimated $200,000 in tax revenue. He supported High Times as having “a distinguished track record of hosting safe, successful and compliant cannabis events.”

Devlin said Tuesday that May’s event pulled in closer to $60,000 in tax revenue.

“It’s not just about revenue,” Devlin said. “There’s also a conversation to be had around public consumption and where consumption is appropriate. We’re just now as a city beginning to have that conversation. And this is a piece of that conversation.”

This year’s earlier Cannabis Cup show in Sacramento announced its music lineup relatively last-second, two weeks ahead of the performance. Lauryn Hill, Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Rick Ross and others performed.

Devlin and a story published by The Bee at the time noted minimal drama inside Cal Expo gates earlier this year.

“There weren’t really any significant issues,” Devlin said. “If the council decides to permit future events, I believe that those events will also go very well.”

A Cannabis Cup without cannabis might sound like a serious drag, but it’s happened before in California, on the most unfortunate of days for weed enthusiasts. A last-minute vote by the San Bernardino City Council rejected a permit allowing marijuana use less than two days before the April 20 Cannabis Cup SoCal event. It proceeded as a music festival without legally permitted marijuana use or pot vendors.

October’s show theoretically could have proceeded as a normal music concert as well, but with no lineup announced, it appears no such show will hit Cal Expo the weekend before Halloween.

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Outside Lands unveiled its new Grass Lands area on Aug. 10, which, according to a news release, makes it “the first major U.S. music festival to have a curated cannabis experience.”

Interested parties got the chance to check out the area during Day One of the three-day festival, which continues through Aug. 12 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and see all the cannabis themed/related products on display.

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No, people weren’t actually allowed to use or purchase pot onsite at Grass Lands. And smoking is not allowed anywhere in Golden Gate Park — something that organizers reminded people through signage. But “budtenders” and representatives of major cannabis companies were on hand to talk about their services and products.

A stroll through new #grasslands area at @sfoutsidelands pic.twitter.com/EJOV4ONjwe

— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) August 11, 2018

More from grasslands pic.twitter.com/w3tCu1qxGI

— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) August 11, 2018

Rick Farman, co-founder of Superfly, co-producers of Outside Lands, was excited to have Grass Lands join the festival’s many other themed areas, such as Wine Lands and Beer Lands.

“Much the way that Wine Lands celebrates Napa and Sonoma as the leaders in U.S. wine production, Grass Lands will shine a light on the area’s importance as pioneers in the cannabis world,” said Rick Farman, co-founder of Superfly, co-producers of Outside Lands.

“With recreational marijuana now legal in California, there is so much to discover. We are excited to be the first major festival in the country to offer attendees the chance to learn about the latest in cannabis development,” Farman says.

And it has arrived pic.twitter.com/vmvtiZhjGc

— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) August 11, 2018

#grasslands at @sfoutsidelands pic.twitter.com/36yXXD2a4M

— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) August 11, 2018

New for 2018 pic.twitter.com/sBBUTWk1xE

— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) August 11, 2018

For more information, visit www.sfoutsidelands.com.

Organizers of the Chalice California marijuana festival announced they’ve postponed the event and will be issuing refunds after the city refused to give them permission to let attendees buy and consume cannabis on site.

“At this juncture, we believe it is best and safest to all of our guests,” the Chalice team wrote in a July 4 message to ticket holders.

A separate post continued: “We must take a stand that cannabis culture and business brings value to cities.”

No future date or venue has been announced, and organizers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bassnectar, Ludacris and other acts were set to perform at the marijuana-themed festival, which was originally expected to attract some 35,000 people to the San Bernardino County fairgrounds in Victorville July 13-15. But new laws require festival organizers to get permission from their local city or county if they want a state license that permits marijuana sales and consumption. After they got shut out by the city, the parent company behind Chalice on June 19 sued Victorville and the state, touting the event’s solid safety record and estimates that it had a $33 million impact on the high desert in 2017.

At a special meeting June 29, the Victorville City Council officially refused to approve the event, saying it conflicts with a city ordinance that bans all marijuana sales.

Chalice organizers said they’ll be refunding all tickets within the next 14 days.

Festival founder Doug Dracup wrote on Instagram that he’d rather postpone the show and “do it right” than put on a show that isn’t up to their standards.

Ticketholders took to social media to express their frustration.

“We’re out $500 because our Airbnb host wouldn’t give us a full refund after finding out this event got postponed,” one person wrote on Facebook. “We, the attendees, are losing a lot of money because of this.”

A few social media fans showed solidarity, with one person who planned to fly in from New Jersey for the event posting: “Just want to let you guys know I stand with you. … Keep on fighting for this culture.”

Tickets are on sale for the Smoke Me Out y Los Reyes Del Corrido festival set for Aug. 18.

The festival will feature many young up-and-coming bands playing various genres of regional Mexican music, including soaring rancheras, popping norteño tunes and banda music. But the event will focus on passionate corridos, the storytelling songs, and judging by the pot leaf design in the poster for the fest, expect plenty to reference marijuana.

San Diego-born singer Roberto Tapia, who blends banda, norteño and hip-hop, is among the dozen and a half artists on the lineup.

He’s joined by Sinaloan trio Los Hijos de Barron, which brings a guitar-driven sound to rancheras as well as Orange County-based norteño group Legado 7, which is known for corridos about marijuana. Also on the bill is Arsenal Efectivo, which performs a style the members have termed “trap corridos,” which landed the group on Pandora’s “Artists to Watch in 2018.”

Other artists on the bill include El De La Guitarra, Los Alegres Del Barranco, Régulo Caro, Christian Felix and Maximo Grado, Los Hijos De Garcia, Omar Ruiz, Cornelio Vega & Su Dinastia, Enigma Norteño, Noel Torres, Fuerza Regida and Adriel Favela.

Smoke Me Out is the latest in a series of festivals that are turning the Queen Mary into one hot ship.

So far this year the venue has hosted the One Love Cali Reggae Fest in February, the sold out Smoker’s Club Festival, which celebrated hip-hop culture and marijuana in April, the R&B heavy Smoking Grooves in June and on July 7 Snoop Dogg and Warren G return to Long Beach for the Summertime in the LBC show. That’s followed on Aug.12 by Alt 98.7’s Summer Camp music festival headlined by Death Cab for Cutie.

It’s all happened after a partnership with concert organizer Goldenvoice was announced late last year to put on more festivals at the ship.

Smoke Me Out y Reyes Del Corrido

When: 11 a.m.. Aug.18

Where: Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach

Tickets: $60-$150 for general admission, $150-$200 for VIP

Information: www.smokemeoutfest.com

Stephen Gieder, executive director of Humboldt Green — a cannabis consulting and business service organization — said he wants to put on a family-friendly celebration of cannabis and local marijuana culture where adults can consume cannabis products, but local regulations won’t allow for that type of event at fairgrounds — the only places cannabis events can take place.

“The fairgrounds themselves are the obstacles. Both fairgrounds are unwilling to hold cannabis events this year due to some of these policies,” he said.

An updated county cannabis ordinance that took effect this month authorizes the use of the county fairgrounds in Ferndale for events that include cannabis sales to and consumption by people 21 years of age or older. These events would be subject to the approval of the Humboldt County Fair Association and city of Ferndale.

“It would need to be 21 and over, it’s kind of like going into a bar,” Humboldt County Planning and Building Director John Ford said.

But a Ferndale law and terms in the fairgrounds lease agreement make Cannifest at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds an impossibility for now, fair general manager Richard Conway said.

“It’s a no smoking facility per our lease with the county and the second piece of that is there’s a city ordinance about anything cannabis related within 1,000 feet of a school and we actually share a property line with a school,” he said.

On top of that, the fair leases the infield of the race track to the high school for use by its track, baseball and softball teams, Conway said. When asked, he said the fair association hasn’t taken a stance for or against marijuana or cannabis events.

So that leaves Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka where Cannifest 2017 took place.

“Since we held the first one we’ve kind of grown into a business incubator,” Redwood Acres CEO Cindy Bedingfield said.

She said the fairgrounds hosts martial arts businesses, boy scout troop meetings, an RV park, youth horse boarders and other businesses.

“In order to have [cannabis events] it needed to be 21 and over and a certain distance from some things,” Bedingfield said.

When asked, she also said the fairgrounds isn’t taking a stance against marijuana.

So in order to host a cannabis event at either local fairground it would have to be strictly for people over 21 without any consumption or sales, Gieder said.

“Imagine having a wine makers expo where no one tastes wine,” he said.

This isn’t the sort of celebration of cannabis Gieder’s looking to throw.

“We really feel Cannifest has more legs outside of Humboldt County, outside of California even,” he said.

Gieder said he’s been researching parks in Pennsylvania and Ohio as possible Cannifest venues. But he added he hopes to have a Cannifest in Humboldt County again eventually.

“We’re still looking to make it happen,” he said.

Related stories: Victorville refuses to approve Chalice marijuana festival; faces lawsuit

Cannabis festivals bring big money, some controversy to local communities

In Year One of legal weed, Cannabis Cup in San Bernardino faces city hurdle

California’s cannabis festivals face uncertain future under new state rules

The decision came after a few dozen people spoke in support of the festival, citing the economic benefit Chalice brings to the community, its solid safety record and an opportunity to help move newly legalized cannabis culture “out of the shadows.”

“There’s a lot of jobs that are going to be lost out there, a lot of revenue that’s going to be lost out there,” said Adelanto Mayor Rich Kerr. Fair officials have said last year’s event generated $33 million in local spending.

But Victorville officials insisted that their city code prohibits cannabis sales and events, and that they can’t change the rules without going through a formal process.

Councilwoman Blanca Gomez suggested having the planning commission review the city’s entire cannabis ordinance, but no one on the council seconded her motion.

Gomez said she and other council members can’t comment on the festival because Chalice organizers filed a lawsuit against them earlier this month. State officials, also named in the lawsuit, sent a letter expressing a similar position.

The festival has been held at the fairgrounds in Victorville since 2016 under the state’s once-loose medical marijuana laws. City Manager Keith Metzler told the council he believes the festival can still happen this year as it has in years past, and that he doesn’t believe the argument that they’ll lose significant revenue without city approval.

However, California laws that kicked in Jan. 1 that legalize the recreational use of marijuana also limit marijuana-themed festivals to county fairgrounds and require organizers to get permission from local authorities before they can get a state permit for cannabis consumption and sales.

After the San Bernardino City Council denied approving permission for April’s High Times Cannabis Cup festival, vendors said the event — held without sanctioned sales and consumption of cannabis — was a “ghost town.”

Chalice is still slated to take place in Victorville next month, with music acts including Ludacris and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. But Ryan Heil, who helps produce Chalice, said vendors with contracts valued at more than $1.1 million are already threatening to pull out. And he expects a 60 percent loss in revenue without city approval for marijuana consumption and sales.

Here’s Cannifornian coverage of the 2017 Chalice festival:

Ice Cube, Thievery Corporation, Cypress Hill to headline Chalice cannabis festival

Chalice festival takes cue from Coachella with weed-inspired live art

These photos show you what it’s like to be at Chalice 2017

Glassblowing on display as artists make pricey pipes at Chalice cannabis festival

Who makes the best marijuana flowers and concentrates? Chalice 2017 judges weigh in