As Arts, Beats & Eats kicks off in Royal Oak, White Boy Rick becomes first weed customer
Arts, Beats & Eats’ newest attraction was a big hit out of the gate.
DankWay, the Royal Oak festival’s pioneering cannabis space, was bustling with a steady stream of visitors as AB&E kicked off Friday.
White Boy Rick, the onetime teen drug dealer and FBI informant born Richard Wershe Jr., was the site’s very first customer, purchasing several vape cartridges and cannabis flower packs just after 11 a.m.
“I got to buy the very first weed here,” he said Friday afternoon. “This is groundbreaking, and I think it's the first of many to come.”
The 8th — White Boy Rick’s recently launched cannabis line — was among the brands with booths in the weed space, set up in a secluded Royal Oak alley by the Michigan dispensary chain House of Dank.
Arts, Beats & Eats is part of a bustling summer swan song across metro Detroit, where the holiday weekend schedule includes the Detroit Jazz Festival, Hamtramck Labor Day Festival, Michigan State Fair, the Romeo Peach Festival and the annual opening of the Franklin Cider Mill.
AB&E is the first major Michigan festival and among the first nationwide with a legal marijuana marketplace and consumption lounge. The space, which can hold up to 362 people, was approved by the city of Royal Oak and licensed by the state of Michigan.
Large fans circulating overhead helped dissipate smoke and smells, though the distinct aroma of weed hung in the air.
Among those partaking were some longtime AB&E patrons grateful to have a safe place to smoke.
“I’m enjoying this — and quite frankly, I wish it would become more mainstream,” said Brian Cahalan, 71, a retired elementary school teacher from Royal Oak. “Most of all, I feel comfortable here.”
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Like many who popped into DankWay, Cahalan planned to head out and explore the festival after finishing his joint.
Across the way, a woman calling herself Aaliyah S., with the Grand Rapids cannabis company Zoot Rollz, expertly worked a bud grinder and wood rolling tips as she prepared what one excited onlooker called “a super blunt!”
History wasn’t lost on Southfield resident Tom Tucker, who lived in Royal Oak in the early ‘70s and recalls when police focused big resources on busting up pot parties in nearby Memorial Park.
“Can you believe it? Now they’re smoking right out here in the open in the middle of Royal Oak,” he said.
DankWay was a mini festival-within-the-festival — a chill world of its own as the hoopla of Arts, Beats & Eats happened outside it.
The streets of downtown Royal Oak were already teeming with festivalgoers on a pleasant Friday afternoon as the 26th iteration of AB&E kicked off the first of four days. Along Washington Avenue was a swirl of tantalizing smells from the event's 50-plus food vendors, offering an assortment of cuisine as diverse as the sounds that were cranking up across nine stages, including many from up-and-coming artists slotted into the fest's opening hours.
Joan Jett was scheduled to close the fest’s national stage Friday, part of a weekend headlining slate that will include Halestorm (Saturday), Russell Dickerson (Sunday) and Bell Biv DeVoe (Monday), alongside more than 200 local performers from across genres.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: As Arts, Beats & Eats kicks off, White Boy Rick is first weed customer
