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Hemp X Asheville
Halfway To HempX To Be Held At New Mountain Asheville

HempX to be Held in Asheville September 18-19

Inaugural Event Will Focus on the Opportunities of Industrial Hemp

HempX, a collaboration between Adapt, Highland Brewing Company and Asheville Event Co., is a family-friendly event that aims to educate the public about the many uses and benefits of industrial hemp.

Presented by Canna Energy, the two-day event will feature a Fuel/Fiber/Food expo with local and national hemp vendors; a Taste of Hemp with small bites from local chefs; educational workshops with industry experts; and a diversity of speakers and live music each day.

HempX will be the first event of its kind held in North Carolina and local organizers hope to shine a light on the role the plant could play in helping revitalize the family farm throughout the state. Blake Butler, one of the event organizers, said, “Our goal is for HempX to be an educational experience. With hemp pilot programs currently moving forward in other Southern states, we’d like to accelerate the conversation about this opportunity for North Carolina.”

Leah Wong Ashburn, President of Highland Brewing Company, also sees the need to dispel the misconceptions about hemp, “I knew so little about hemp but I’ve learned it is a different plant from marijuana that is easy to grow, has multiple uses across industries, and negligible amounts of THC. HempX will educate more people like me on the real value of hemp.”

In January of 2015, The Industrial Hemp Farming Act was introduced in both the House and Senate, H.R.525 and S. 134 respectively. If passed, the bill would remove all federal restrictions on the cultivation of industrial hemp, and remove its classification as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. The number of states that have pro-hemp legislation continues to increase. Currently, 23 states may grow hemp per Sec. 7606 of the Farm Bill, including California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

With a primary sponsorship from Canna Energy and support from The North Carolina Industrial Hemp Alliance, the event will bring a diverse crowd to Asheville. Thomas Shumaker, NCIHA Executive Director, said, “This gathering comes at a perfect time for North Carolina and our network of activists, farmers and small business owners will be there in September.”

An incredibly versatile crop, hemp fiber, oil seed and flowers are used for a myriad of products—including health foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics and body care products, building materials, automobile parts, bio-composites, batteries, bio-fuel, textiles, paper and many others. There are estimated to be over 25,000 products made using hemp.

Sara Day Evans, Executive Director of Accelerating Appalachia, one of the area non-profits HempX will benefit, is enthusiastic about the event and its aspirations. Evans is also a native of Kentucky, a state where hemp was once an abundant crop.

“We at Accelerating Appalachia are particularly excited about the growth of the hemp sector in Appalachia and the U.S. The economic and ecological benefits of hemp are numerous – not only can it help boost small family farm income, but the nutrients in hemp help build healthy soil – with very little need for additives, hemp is easy to grow organically,” said Day. “We are seeing an increase in hemp businesses and start-ups reaching out to Accelerating Appalachia for business development support.”

The Taste of Hemp will be the only ticketed portion of HempX. Everything else will be free to the public.

For more information, visit www.hempxasheville.com

About Jill Lieberman

I grew up in Western North Carolina, and like many who grew up here, left for bigger and better things. I ended up choosing to come right back where I started. I have lived in cities from Manhattan to San Francisco to Atlanta. Asheville is my favorite. After getting a master’s degree in journalism with a public relations focus, my first job was with an agency in Greenville working on crisis communications for the hospital system. That began a career where I’ve handled almost every job there is in PR/marketing /media, from copywriter to media buyer to event planner to salesperson. I was in the trenches during the first dot com boom and bust and worked with Google before it became a verb. I’ve written regular columns for publications on beauty products and how to navigate the internet.