Celebs Turn Up the Heat at CHAMPS Summer 2023 Trade Show

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas—unless it’s brokering new partnerships and strengthening business relationships. That’s because one thing that Las Vegas does better than most is host tradeshows. The city makes it easy to attend, entertain and network—and the CHAMPS Summer 2023 trade show was no exception.

From July 19-22, the cannabis industry descended on the sprawling counter-culture business event that serves North America’s headshops to shake hands and close business deals.

The popular three-day expo attracted thousands of attendees, including celebrities, to the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). The venue is known for hosting the world’s most prolific conferences, including the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and MJBizCon.

The CHAMPS Experience

At first glance, CHAMPS, akin to other larger-than-life B2B tradeshows, comes across as sprawling, bright and overwhelming. However, taking a second look, it’s quite the opposite: Strategically aligned rows transition effortlessly from one area of sales to another, taking excited attendees from distribution through hardware. Booths of regulated products, including cannabis, functional mushrooms and psilocybin, were all vying for attention from attendees.

Several newer vendors took the great leap into the US tradeshow hustle. Royal Queen Seeds, the European leader in consumer cannabis seeds, was impressed with their inaugural CHAMPS foray. “Participating in CHAMPS Las Vegas was an exhilarating experience for us,” said Shai Ramsahai, CEO of Royal Queen Seeds. “We were overjoyed to be part of this remarkable event for the first time. It was a wonderful opportunity to make connections as we position ourselves in the US market, and we were thrilled to receive such positive feedback from everyone who visited us.”

Focused on DIY psilocybin grow kits (spores not included), Oklahoma-based Pacific Substrates is teaching their customers how fun and easy growing mushrooms at home can be. “Seeing existing clients and making new ones is definitely our highlight at CHAMPS,” said Adam Petto, co-founder of Pacific Substrates. “We attend a lot of tradeshows across North America and CHAMPS is, by far, our favorite.”

Revelry Supply, one of North America’s best-selling brands of smell-proof bags and cases, couldn’t keep its smell-proof rolling kits on hand. “We just love attending CHAMPS,” said CEO Brandon Stewart. “The turnout is always great; people walking the floor are excited to discover new products and make deals. We can’t wait for the next show.”

Famous Faces

Celebrity cannabis brands turned heads with fun and flashy attention-grabbing activations, such as the massive wrestling ring from Hogan Health to represent iconic wrestler Hulk Hogan’s debut into the cannabis industry with Carma Holdings. Unfortunately, due to regulations around samples, the highly anticipated event couldn’t legally happen.

Various other celeb brands also had their superstars show up to promote their wares to an excited audience, including Mike Tyson for Tyson 2.0 and Snoop Dogg for Death Row Cannabis. Celebrities were also handing out free, well-designed merch to lure new customers.

Summer Games Glass Event

And, of course, CHAMPS wouldn’t be CHAMPS without the iconic Glass Games. This year’s theme was “ROYGBIV,” which is an acronym for the sequence of colors that make up a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Oregon-based glass artist Chase Smith took home first prize with his multi-hued creation that he made in a mind-blowing three hours.