POT TALK

Excerpt from article by Matt DeLong
Originally publish January 12, 2024

Mariesa Sun-Saenz
Producer, Social AF

As more and more Minnesotans observe “Dry January” and forego alcohol following the overindulgence of the holidays — and many younger Americans reporting that they drink less in general — bars and restaurants are taking notice and adding more mocktails and other booze-free options to their drink menus. Now, a trio of local event production pros have launched a series of curated “alcohol-alternative” events in Minneapolis throughout January.

Social AF is the product of Mariesa Sun-Saenz, her partner Luke Mason and Kimberly Gottschalk of Sue McLean Productions. The first event in the series was held Tuesday at Hi Flora!, an alcohol-free, cannabis-friendly vegan restaurant in Uptown, featuring food, drinks, vendors and a DJ spinning reggae tunes.

Two more events are currently on the schedule: Tuesday, Jan. 16 at Earl Giles Distillery in northeast Minneapolis featuring Stoner Bingo; and a home-grow swap meet at Hook & Ladder Theater and Zen Arcade in the Longfellow neighborhood. Both venues will have a designated outdoor space where smoking and vaping is permitted.

Nuggets spoke with Sun-Saenz this week about the event. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is Social AF?

Social AF is a new event series on Tuesdays during dry January. We are curating experiences that are not centered around alcohol, but are cannabis-friendly. Hopefully in the future, we’ll be able to showcase other types of alcohol-free local products.

What can people expect if they attend one of these events?

All the venues that we’re working with will offer a warm, inviting and welcoming place where you can feel at home and be comfortable. It will be an inclusive space and it will be cannabis-friendly, so there will be outdoor-smoking allowed [in a designated area]. At Hi Flora! (the first event, this past Tuesday), Luke is going to be spinning reggae and Hi Flora! is a vegan restaurant, so it’s a nice combo. There will be a few local vendors there. On the 16th, our second Tuesday, it will be at Earl Giles [Distillery’s] mezzanine, where they’ve been doing the canna-happy hour. We’re going to have Stoner Bingo in the back room and some live music. It’ll be a lively, fun environment with activities and networking and an event to get to know the community.

What is Stoner Bingo?

It will be bingo but all the things on the bingo card will be stoner-related. There will be some giveaways from local retail stores.

What else do you have planned this month?

On Jan. 30, we will have a home-grow swap meet at the Zen Arcade at Hook & Ladder Theater. There will be live music and the outdoor patio is smoker-friendly. The most important thing about the upcoming Social AF events is that they will hopefully all be very different. They will be in different areas, hopefully we will be able to expand the venues that are interested in doing these types of events. Each event will be unique based on the venue, the partners and what’s going on at the time. People can expect creative, curated experiences that are centered around being social together and celebrating cannabis.

Where did the idea for these events come from?

With our friends and our own personal direction, while we do still partake in alcohol sometimes, we’re definitely cutting down and taking advantage of some of the new THC products that are on the market. A lot of people are interested in having social experiences without alcohol. I think the Legacy Cup was probably the most important experience that I had personally, where 11,000 people were interested in an event like that. It was a good motivator that [showed] the market existed.

How easy has it been to find venues willing to forego alcohol sales?

Hi Flora! was an obvious choice because they do not have alcohol. Earl Giles was already doing a cannabis-friendly happy hour. We are partnering with places that already have a similar mission to what we’re doing. There are some other venues we’re talking to right now that are very interested in low-dose THC drinks. I think they’re realizing that there is definitely a very fast-growing market and some of them have side rooms or certain days that they’re willing to hold on alcohol for.

Do you see this becoming a regular thing beyond dry January?

I definitely think we’re going to continue doing Social AF throughout the year. I don’t know if it’s going to be weekly, most likely it will be more like a pop-up. We are collecting phone numbers for a membership [link in footer] that will allow people to receive pop-up info, local discounts at retail shops and other VIP things.