NEGRIL, Westmoreland — Rastafari Inity, promoters of Rastafari Rootz Fest, Jamaica’s first ganja-exempt event, has indicated that next year, the third staging of the festival could be shifted from December to November.

The move is geared towards avoiding a clash with an established ganja event held annually in California.

“In California the biggest ganja cup, Emerald Cup, is taking place December 9-11. So a vast amount of people who would come to Rootz Fest gone to Emerald Cup because Emerald Cup is one of the biggest thing, and it is an annual event. So what we want to do now is look on the international calendar and pick a date somewhere in November so that Rootz Fest don’t clash with any other international ganja event,” Ras Iyah V, one of the promoters of the event, told the Jamaica Observer West.

“There is nowhere in the world that you find musicians sing about ganja like Jamaica. So there is nowhere like Jamaica to them (international patrons) plus the herbs that is grown in Jamaica is grown on a more natural basis than those in California, Colorado and other parts of the States. So even those who smoke the herb over there (overseas) glad to come here to get something more natural.”

He expressed gratitude for the support of patrons and sponsors during the recent staging of the event, which ran between December 9-11 at Long Bay Beach in Negril.

“I man feel good, I man feel great; is not 100 per cent what I man would love, but it is the second year and you hardly see anything with the space of two years grow in the way that Rootz Fest turned out, even last (Saturday) night,” Ras Iyah V argued.

Last year, the inaugural festival was held as High Times Cannabis Cup. However, local organisers have severed ties with High Times, the New York magazine which owns rights to the Cannabis Cup.

According to organisers, the show is primarily aimed at mobilising, educating and connecting players in Jamaica’s emerging ganja industry following amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act last year.

The three-day festival was highlighted by live reggae shows predominantly featuring Rastafarian performers; a rasta village; and an awards presentation for the GanJamaica Cup, a ganja competition. The country’s best ganja farmers were invited to showcase strains of the weed and they were judged by an expert panel.