Grown In Harvest Exchange · Featuring the Chicago Cannabis Congress · October 8, 2026
Chicago’s cannabis future needs a better room.
A one-day business marketplace and working congress bringing cannabis, hemp beverages, hospitality, technology, capital and public policy into one room.
A one-day marketplace and working congress connecting cannabis, hemp beverages, hospitality, technology, capital and public policy.
Built for Operators · Policymakers · Investors · Innovators · Civic leaders
The program in formation
Three market questions we are building the room to address.
The Harvest Exchange program is being built with leading organizations, operators and industry voices. Additional speakers and sessions will be announced in the weeks ahead, with several exciting developments already in the works.
What can be sold, served and consumed—and where?
Hemp beverages, licensed cannabis, edibles, hospitality, venues, responsible service and the rules governing each.
Which technologies solve actual operating problems?
A practical examination of AI, data, compliance and infrastructure capable of moving the industry forward.
How can Chicago turn market complexity into an advantage?
Connect cannabis and hemp with Chicago’s strengths in finance, CPG, healthcare, hospitality, logistics and civic implementation.
Speaker Spotlight
A growing lineup of voices shaping the Exchange.
Matthew Brewer, Laura Jaramillo Bernal and Kris Hammond are among the speakers bringing perspectives across cannabis operations, policy, business and emerging technology—with additional voices and program conversations continuing to take shape for October 8.
Live entertainment · October 8
HighQ brings the fun to the Harvest Exchange.
America’s Favorite Drug Test is performing live at Sarabande on October 8, bringing its signature mix of comedy, competition, sketch, improv and audience participation to the Harvest Exchange.
It’s HighQ’s unmistakable brand of fun woven into the day—adding energy, surprise and a little controlled chaos alongside the serious conversations and real connections.
How the day works
This is not panel theater.
Each session is designed to put the real question in front of the room, bring different experience and authority into direct exchange, and identify what can move next.
Put the question on the table.
A concise, evidence-led opening establishes the facts, conflicts and tradeoffs that matter.
Bring the right perspectives together.
Operators, officials and stakeholders compare experience, incentives, authority and practical constraints.
Advance the work.
Grown In captures areas of alignment, unresolved questions and practical next steps.
Program themes: Consumption · Innovation · Global Chicago.
Who belongs in the room
Different perspectives. Shared consequences.
The market moves faster when the people building it, governing it and supporting it can hear one another directly.
The market
Cannabis and hemp operators, beverage companies, retailers, hospitality leaders, venues and entrepreneurs.
Public leadership
Elected officials, regulators, civic institutions, economic-development leaders and community stakeholders.
Market infrastructure
Capital, legal, technology, healthcare, research, education, media and professional-services leaders.
Participants and program contributors
People bringing operating knowledge, market experience and public responsibility into the room.
What should come out of the room
Useful momentum, not another stack of panel notes.
The Exchange is designed to produce clearer questions, stronger relationships and a practical path for continued work.
A sharper understanding of where regulation, operating reality and institutional practice are out of alignment.
Direct connections among people whose decisions are interdependent but who rarely share the same room.
A credible path toward continued collaboration and a renewed Chicago cannabis innovation platform.
Grown In brings the market knowledge. Project Middle Ground structures the room: listen, convene, synthesize and advance.
Partnership opportunities
Put your organization at the center of the conversation.
Harvest Exchange partners receive meaningful visibility, direct participation and access to the people shaping the market—not simply a logo on an expo wall.
Event and editorial recognition connected to a serious market conversation.
Meaningful participation, curated introductions and access aligned with your organization’s goals.
Connection to post-event synthesis, working relationships and the 2027 roadmap.
Current Harvest Exchange partners
Organizations helping bring the Harvest Exchange to life.
These partners are helping bring operators, policymakers, innovators and civic leaders together for a more useful Chicago market conversation.
October 8 · Sarabande Chicago
Be in the room shaping what comes next.
One day connecting marketplace discovery, working sessions, executive exchange, curated networking and the Harvest Reception.
Next up · St. Louis
Pot, Policy & Politics.
Presented by the Midwest Cannabis Forum
Join Cultivated & Grown In at 2nd Shift Brewing for a St. Louis conversation connecting cannabis policy, politics, business and the people shaping what comes next.