Erich Pearson, left, CEO and chairman of SPARC, is working with Joey Airone, founder of Sweetleaf Collective, to jump-start the collective’s compassionate care program. Photo: Sari Staver Compassionate care programs are expected to expand locally, following the March 1 start date for Senate Bill 34, the new state law making it easier for organizations to […]
JULIE JOHNSONTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT August 23, 2019 Acivil engineer, an insurance broker, a steel vessel manufacturer, two educators and a slew of people from the wine, shipping and tech industries lined up on a hot August morning to get onto a tour bus outside the Hyatt Regency hotel in Santa Rosa. Handed mimosas in plastic cups […]
DAVID DOWNS January 11, 2019 More and more consumers want cannabis grown under full sun, in the soil, using organic nutrients. They think it tastes and feels better than lamp-grown, synthetically fertilized plants grown indoors. Meeting that demand is a new generation of so-called “Demeter”-certified “biodynamic” cannabis farms. They submit to repeat inspections and pay […]
JULIE JOHNSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | November 27, 2018, 9:27PM A cloudy summer and an early rain hampered Sonoma County’s 2018 outdoor cannabis haul, but the mood remained optimistic among growers one year after major wildfires marred the newly regulated crop’s harvest. By this time in the growing season, the marijuana plants have been […]
VOMMAG NOVEMBER 16, 2018VOL. 4 ISSUE 6 Story Jonah Raskin Photos Steven Krause There isn’t a family in Sonoma Valley that doesn’t have a family tree, though some families have deeper roots than others. The Gordenkers’ family history in Sonoma Valley goes back to 1885, when Olga and Vladimir arrived from Russia, rolled up their […]
Rohnert Park, CA. – November 14, 2018 – A leader in California cannabis known for its dispensary outlets as well as for its farming practices, SPARC is pleased to announce the release of its first Demeter Certified biodynamically farmed strains. Biodynamic agriculture is an ecological farming system that views the farm as a self-contained and […]
David Downs September 6, 2018 The morning sun barely clears the Berkeley hills east of the San Francisco Bay today, yet the Volcano vaporizers are already warm at the public cannabis lounges across the region. Over at Barbary Coast Collective on Mission St. in San Francisco, the staff sets out cleaned ashtrays and psychedelic silicone […]
Christine Brizendine buys products from Dannie Holzer (right) at a Sparc dispensary in San Francisco. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle A bonanza of cheap marijuana is flooding the market this week as growers, manufacturers and retailers unload excess cannabis in preparation for the enforcement of strict testing and packaging regulations that are […]
Timing is everything. It was the worst kind of timing on Oct. 8 when the Nuns Fire raged through the Gordenker Ranch property where SPARC, a San Francisco-based marijuana collective, leases growing acreage. In October, a good percentage of the crop had been picked and stored on site, awaiting transport to East Bay processing facilities […]
To celebrate California’s first fully legal 420, San Francisco dispensaries turned to vinyl and drag queens. Zack Ruskin Wed Apr 25th, 2018 2:15pm Chem Tales For many pot enthusiasts, 420 will always be a day to gather with hundreds of fellow stoners and smoke a truly staggering amount of cannabis. However, for dispensaries, the occasion […]
April 18, 2018 · by fleamarketfunk · in 45 RPM, Vinyl Records This year 420 falls on a Friday, which is good for lots of people. It’s also good for this collaboration between SPARC and the Jazz Dispensary, which looks to be a wonderful match for a day like this, not coincidentally the day before RSD 2018. For those not in the know, […]
By Laura Anthony Wednesday, April 11, 2018 GLEN ELLEN, Calif. (KGO) — The North Bay fires were devastating for homeowners and businesses. That includes some of the area’s cannabis growers. “This barn went twice as far, all the way down to that hay and then there was a whole ‘nother barn over here the same size.” […]
Artist Fujiko Nakaya’s Fog Bridge at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP/REX/Shutterstock By Aislyn Greene APR. 10, 2018 As of January 1, 2018, you can legally buy cannabis at any dispensary in California — just for the sheer pleasure of it. All you need is 21 years under your belt, a valid ID from any […]
For 420, the annual celebration of cannabis culture that falls this year on Friday, April 20th, leading cannabis industry partner SPARC and the Jazz Dispensary label announce the first installment of the Private Stock Series. Exclusively available at one of SPARC’s four dispensary outlets, Private Stock Series #001 features two classic songs that exemplify soul, funk, and good times. Not coincidentally, both also reference the […]
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Read the full story. By Sari Staver, Bay Area Reporter, March 1, 2018 A rapidly growing number of cannabis dispensaries have opened lounges where adults can legally vape or dab, making the notion of meeting for a cup of coffee or a drink feel very old fashioned. At the moment, there are eight locations in […]
Read the full article. By Jonah Raskin; photo by Steve Krause, Valley of the Moon magazine, February 2018 Last October, just days after a raging fire destroyed much of his bumper crop in Sonoma Valley, Erich Pearson told a reporter: “We’re in fight and rebuild mode.” Soon afterward, he explained, “We got water to some […]
California hopes to rake in $1 billion in annual tax revenues from cannabis sales, and nowhere is that more clear than at dispensary cash registers. It’s sticker shock for marijuana customers since Jan. 1, when clerks began adding a whole slate of new taxes to both medical and nonmedical pot purchases. Industry experts have estimated the […]
BY HEATHER IRWIN JANUARY 2, 2018 Less than 24 hours before the doors to Sebastopol’s Sparc cannabis dispensary were slated to open for recreational marijuana purchases CEO Erich Pearson still hadn’t gotten the official green light. For more than a decade the iconic Sonoma County medical marijuana shop had served the community, but with the state legalization of recreational […]
Read the full article. By Carolyne Zinko, Greenstate.com, Nov. 27, 2017 “It’s not very McKinsey-like!” said a 30-ish woman, who presumably worked at the international consulting firm, while glancing at marijuana and tall glass bongs at a backyard party in San Mateo, California, before quickly walking away. Many of the 50 guests at philanthropist Crickette […]
By Christina Molcillo, the Emerald Report, Aug 15, 2017. Access the full article. PUFF, PUFF, PAINT: WEED AND ART CLASSES IN SF SPARC, and DIY classroom space WorkshopSF have teamed up for a series of art and creativity workshops offering expert art instruction paired with an in-class cannabis sampling. . . Click here to learn more about these […]
Local boy makes good! A profile of Marijuana Policy Project founder Aaron Smith. SPARC CEO Erich Pearson made the first contribution get this nonprofit started. Read the story.
By JK Nineen, San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 10, 2017 Access the full article Even by the standards of San Francisco’s famously fractious land use fights, last month’s Planning Commission hearing on a plan to open a cannabis dispensary in the Sunset District was extreme. The hearing lasted nearly seven hours. It included testimony from more […]
By Christian Kallen, Sonoma News, July 20, 2017 Access the full article. Sonoma Valley turkey ranch turns its soil to cannabis cultivation An old turkey ranch near Glen Ellen is the site of a very new business model, applying biodynamic principals that have worked well in grape production and other agricultural practices to the rapidly-growing […]
By Heather Irwin, the Emerald Report Biodynamic farming does organic one better. Of course it’s the best way to cultivate cannabis. SPARC CEO Erich Pearson, mentored in part by wine leader and biodynamic grower Mike Benziger, takes his brand beyond. Read the whole story.
By Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle, July 17 2017 Access the full article. Locally sourced bat guano and other manure-based fertilizers will power Erich Pearson’s biodynamic pot farm outside the city of Sonoma, which seeks to harness the forces of the earth, the cosmos and the free market. Craft cannabis is becoming a cousin to […]
Story by David Bolling, photo by Steven Krause. Valley of the Moon Magazine, July 14, 2017 Access the full article. A model, biodynamic pot farm builds a bridge between wine and weed in the Valley of the Moon. If Mike Benziger and Erich Pearson have their way, a 400-acre former turkey farm in the Sonoma […]
By Julie Johnson, the Press Democrat, May 22, 2017 Read the full article. One of Sonoma County’s most recognized marijuana dispensaries is merging with a large San Francisco cannabis collective. Peace in Medicine is integrating with its longtime partner SPARC, the San Francisco Patient and Resource Center, a Mission Street dispensary that sells and provides […]
CBS News, Nov. 9, 2017 John Blackstone reports. Access the full story here. The marijuana industry got a boost on election night. Voters in several states approved measures to legalize recreational pot. Campaigns spent millions to support or oppose the effort. At SPARC, a medical marijuana dispensary, an election night party ended in the early morning. […]
By Melia Robinson, Business Insider, Nov. 9, 2016 Access the full article Members of San Francisco’s budding marijuana industry celebrated the legalization of recreational weed in their state in their natural habitat — a marijuana dispensary.The night’s festivities were marred, however, by the presidential race. Trump cinched the election in the biggest upset in political history, […]
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Nov. 1, 2016 See the full video story . Marijuana Issues on the Ballot in Multiple States on Election Day Next Tuesday, five states — California, Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine — will have legalization on the ballot in what could be a historic day for the country’s legalization movement.
By Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle, October 18, 2016 Read the full article Mention marijuana advertising to anyone who was alive in the 1970s, and you might draw out of them a famous Cheech and Chong jingle. “No stems, no seeds that you don’t need,” goes the ditty, “Acapulco Gold is” — cue sound of […]
By Ariel Schwartz, Fast Company, Sept. 10, 2010 Find the full article Not into the stoner aesthetic but still want your pot straight from the local dispensary? The San Francisco Patient and Resource Center (SPARC) has you covered. This recently opened San Francisco dispensary combines the sleekness of an Apple store with the quality strains of […]
