Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More
Continue in Browser
Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts.
Please enter a valid zipcode.
Save
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — Some New York businesses licensed to sell marijuana and other cannabis-related products aren’t just setting up shop. They’re looking to turn their businesses into tourist stops. In the Finger Lakes, a bus company that’s used to hauling customers around the popular wine trails is on board.
In a place known for destinations, there’s a spot looking to become one. Curt Boshnack is CEO of Sunwalker Farms, a cannabis dispensary with a micro-business license that allows him to grow, produce and sell cannabis products.
“We’re local farms,” said Boshnack, who opened his dispensary in Canandaigua in early 2025. “Local mom and pops that are producing locally. Quality over quantity. It’s what we do.“
The bus parked outside the dispensary on a recent weekday usually does Finger Lakes beer and wine tours. Tour company owner Russell Russo had another idea.
“So we thought, why not try this? Let’s see if there is a calling for cannabis tours,” said Russo, owner of Crush Beer & Wine Tours. “And there was.”
Buses and vans that take customers from micro-dispensary to micro-dispensary, just like those popular winery tours, which let someone else take the wheel.
“They’re looking to do things in a safe environment,” said Russo. “They don’t want to have to drive and consume.”
From Boshnack’s dispensary, which includes a lounge where local musicians provided a backdrop to the gathering, the next stop was East Rochester, where Jessica Shelp opened Grass Roots Wellness NY.
“I knew I wanted to open this,” said Shelp. “The minute they announced it was going to be legal, I knew I wanted to do exactly this. Make it as small and community-based as possible.”
New York state cannabis law, passed in 2021, allows for on-site consumption licenses, but regulations are not yet in place to allow it to happen.
“Why can’t we do that for cannabis?” asked Boshnack. “To really showcase this industry. Either way, the industry is going to evolve and go that way anyway. Why not now?”
“You have no idea how much that excites me, because it’s breaking the stigma,” added Shelp.
Felix Harris co-owns Six Point Flower Shop in downtown Rochester, the next stop on the tour.
“We’re a micro, minority-owned,” said Harris. “I am one of three owners, and we love really, really good, high-quality cannabis here.”
All three businesses also help define the social equity goals New York has for its cannabis shop licensing. Boshnack is a service-disabled veteran. Shelp’s is one of the roughly 40% of cannabis businesses that are women-owned. Harris represents just a small number of African-American micro business licensees.
“It’s not many people that look like me who are owners in this industry,” he said. “It’s special to me. And I hold on to that. I know what I’m representing, and I’m doing my best to represent it. So good people, good vibes, you know?”
Good vibes that are turning some New York cannabis shops into destinations.
“Craft cannabis in the Finger Lakes,” said Boshnack. “What could be better than that?”