Yabba Dabbas owner excited for new QC fest
Heather Dabbas is high on a new music fest she’s cooked up for the Quad Cities.
The owner of the Yabba Dabbas House of Glass (with three locations), she is lighting up the first Tree0ninE Festival (based on the local 309 area code) with a one-of-a-kind celebration of cannabis legalization on June 28-29, 2024 at The Rust Belt, 533 12th Ave., East Moline.
It will feature two days of music, art, food, and vendors to celebrate, educate, and advocate for cannabis culture.
Yabba Dabbas (which started in 2015) has sponsored the winter music series at the Rust Belt. Dabbas (the owner) met building owner Larry Anderson two years ago, and she’s sponsored the winter concerts for two years.
She’s sponsored “Caged Aggression” MMA fights for five years at the Davenport RiverCenter, and adult sports leagues.
“It’s something good to do, it’s something I can do,” Dabbas said recently of sponsorships, which she hopes help her business. She has not sold her products before at Rust Belt, but will at the June 28-29 event.
Anderson and Dabbas wanted to try something different at Rust Belt, and this is not the first such cannabis-themed in the area, but the first since legalization of recreational marijuana use in Illinois.
“I’m not trying to step on anybody’s toes, but we just wanted to do something different and cannabis is just growing like wildfire all over the country,” she said. “There’s so much money being made in the industry; there’s so much taxes being made off of it – a lot of positive benefits I think.”
“In the summer, there are so many different festivals going on – every weekend there’s something to do,” Dabbas said. “When it comes to June 28-29, and you have three things you’re thinking – maybe two of those things, you can think doing something just like it on another weekend. Mine you can’t – hopefully they come.”
Her timing could not better. Cannabis has now surpassed alcohol as Americans’ daily recreational drug of choice.
In 2022, there were 17.7 million people who reported using cannabis either every day or nearly every day, compared with 14.7 million who reported using alcohol with the same frequency, according to a study, published on Wednesday, May 22, in the journal Addiction that analyzed data from the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
While more people drink than use cannabis, drinking frequently has become slightly less common than it was around 15 years ago, the study found. But the proportion of people in the U.S. who use cannabis frequently has increased 15-fold in the three decades since 1992, when daily cannabis use hit a low point.
Cannabis legalization has also rapidly accelerated since the ’90s. The drug is now legal for recreational use in 24 states and Washington, D.C., and for medical use in 38 states and D.C.
Illinois became the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana in 2020, and in 2023, saw an all-time record in cannabis sales, exceeding $1.6 billion. The newest QC dispensary – Revolution Dispensary – opened this past December at 4301 44th Ave., Moline.
“I do think COVID was a big turning point for us. The government was throwing around free money,” Dabbas said of the cannabis biz. “People were working from home or not working at all. You can spend that money on weed; you’re not getting drug tested at work anymore, and that was a wonderful time – it wasn’t but it was, business-wise.”
“When they closed all the bars and the restaurants, all there was to do was get high,” she said. “I was on the verge of tears, if not cried every single day. I thought this is what it feels like to lose everything you’ve ever worked for. You just kept going to work.”
A QC native makes good
Dabbas, 43, grew up in Davenport, lived in Cedar Rapids two years, and went to Rock Island High School. She had her first son at 18 (she has four kids total), and was a nontraditional student at Western Illinois University (in Moline), graduating in 2008. Her husband died in 2019.
Dabbas started her namesake company in 2015, inspired partly by her special needs daughter (now 14), and they considered medical marijuana for her. They had gone on vacation in Colorado, where recreational pot was legal since 2012.
Her daughter has struggled with seizures since she was a baby and is blind. Dabbas is a recreational cannabis consumer herself.
“We were never able to get her medical marijuana living in the state of Iowa,” she said. “We just tried different pills, and the pills weren’t working. It seemed like, why can’t we just try marijuana?”
“We talked about moving to Colorado, and next thing you know, we opened our first shop in Davenport,” Dabbas said. The Moline store opened in October 2015, and Bettendorf opened in 2021.
The store locations are 3559 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport; 4416 Avenue of the Cities, Moline; and 3207 Devils Glen Rd., Bettendorf.
Yabba Dabbas opened in Rock Island (3702 14th Ave.) in January 2020, and she decided to close it last fall after never really picking up after the pandemic. There’s a lot of competition in smoke shops in Rock Island, and directly across from Yabba Dabbas in Moline are two related stores – Shag Alternative Superstore and Galaxy Tobacco and Vape, which is new but not yet open.
“Business changes, you have to evolve with it, and that’s how I ended up doing the music fest,” Dabbas said. “Smoke shops, I love ‘em, but it’s not the same business at the end of the day as it was nine years ago.”
Yabba Dabbas is not a cannabis dispensary, but sells all of the accessories (including vape pens) you need to go along with your smoke products.
They have glass, electronics, papers, incense, candles, and CBD and Delta 8 products. Happy Water is a popular canned drink – made in Rock Island, with flavored seltzer, Delta 8 emulsion and THC extract.
Delta-8 THC (or delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol) is a naturally occurring chemical compound, called a cannabinoid, that’s found in traces in hemp and cannabis (marijuana) plants.
Iowa vs. Illinois
Dabbas said she can’t control what the end user of her products does, so she’s allowed to sell in Iowa, which still outlaws recreational cannabis use.
In 2017, the passage of the Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Act made cannabis products available to thousands more Iowans by expanding the list of qualifying medical conditions.
The law also allowed marijuana plants to be grown within the state, and for manufacturers to develop and distribute cannabis oil that contained up to 3% THC.
The first dispensaries licensed under the Iowa medical cannabidiol program began selling medical cannabidiol products to patients on Dec. 1, 2018.
Yabba Dabbas recommends consuming its products only in Illinois or other states where it’s legal.
“It was making sense – the more we looked into it, the more it made sense and just predicting what would happen here,” she said of the growing industry, and she predicted the current oversaturation of the market locally.
“I think the economy is down everywhere – everyone wants a cheap price and a high wage,” Dabbas said. “It’s hard to do both.”
Overall, her business has grown every year, but slowed down since 2020.
The big cultural shift in regulation of pot has come from science, and the medicinal benefits of marijuana, she said. “It’s more education – it’s real easy to say, ‘it’s a drug,’ when you’re not touched by it, like my daughter.”
“Once it touches your life, and that’s what’s happening now,” Dabbas said. Her daughter’s seizures are under control, with an approved medication, Keppra.
Her other kids are 11, 13, and 25. A widow, Dabbas has a full-time sitter, and has great employees (14 altogether).
“I try not to waste my time; I try to be as efficient as possible, and hope for the best,” she said. Yabba Dabbas is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sundays (to 11 p.m. in Moline).
Fest details
For the summer music fest, there will be a merchandise table and booths, including from the artists inside the Rust Belt. Dabbas said her dream concert is more reggae, but she didn’t want the fest to be about her.
“There were some bands we tried to get that weren’t into a first-year festival and some bands had conflicts,” she said. “Honestly, I wasn’t super familiar with a lot of the bands we ended up with. I’m really excited to see some of them.”
Dabbas worked with Kate Dale of Hive Consulting to book the acts, and they wanted to stay away from metal bands. Dabbas wanted more high energy, noting she’s excited about the electronic, fun Girl Talk. The lineup is:
Friday, June 28: 5:30 p.m. — 11:30 p.m.: Flabbergastor, The Tripp Brothers, The Dawn, Jon Wayne & The Pain, Tropidelic, Girl Talk.
Saturday, June 29: 2:30 p.m. — 11:30 p.m.: DJ Buddha, The Crew, Rude Punch, Wontu Trees, Ryan Jeter’s Mind at Large, Kris Lager Band, Sir Woman, The Pimps of Joytime, Waka Flocka Flame, Chromeo – DJ Set.
The headliners are:
Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis) has evolved from experimental mash-ups to creating explosive party anthems, gaining widespread acclaim with albums like “Night Ripper” and “All Day.” Known for dynamic, confetti-laden live shows, Gillis now brings his unique energy and creative collaborations to the Tree0ninE stage, according to the event release.
Chromeo – DJ Set introduces their latest album “Adult Contemporary,” redefining mature themes with funk and style. The duo continues to captivate with their timeless sound and introspective lyrics on modern relationships.
Waka Flocka Flame, the powerhouse behind hits like “No Hands,” brings his high-energy performance and new musical directions to the festival. Known for his influence in trap music and energetic live shows, Waka promises a party like no other.
“It is more on the electronic and reggae side. Reggae is something I feel is sadly underrepresented in our area,” Dabbas said of the bands. “I don’t want to pin it down to a type of music. It’s definitely more about the cannabis. It’s finally legal and there a lot of people who smoke.
“Being in this industry nine years, old people come in – people in their 80s and 90s,” Dabbas said. “All the way down to the kids trying to get in here. So many people, and I think for a long time, we kind of had to keep it quiet or it was taboo. I think it’s great that’s not there anymore.”
The fest will have an outdoor stage (the headliners will be inside). There will be multiple vendors, including cannabis cultivators, a covered tent outside, and four food trucks each day. Terrace Cannabis (2727 Avenue of the Cities, Moline) is the official dispensary.
They and other companies will have booths at the event, and Bent River has brewed a special fest beer that will be available, Dabbas said. “I just tried it; it’s delicious,” she said of the citrus-wheat brew. Bent River also has a new Yabba Dabbas sour cherry limeade.
She’s working closely with the East Moline mayor and police chief to ensure safe smoking at the fest (encouraged in a designated mobile smoking lounge), within the proper regulations of the law. “There will be designated areas to do it in,” Dabbas said.
All festgoers must be at least 21 years or older. Dabbas plans to host the event every year around that date.
Tree0nineE tickets are available HERE, with a variety of festival pass options to give you the flexibility to enjoy the performances how and when you want, including a two-day pass for $75 (through May 29), or single-day admission of $20, $50 and $65.
For more details, visit the festival website HERE.
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