Happy Place Festival sends 2016 out in a blaze

The first annual Happy Place Festival kicked off Friday at the High Desert Events Center in Victorville, marking the first local cannabis-themed event since Californians legalized recreational marijuana with Proposition 64 on Nov. 8.

The two-day concert and visual arts festival features hundreds of vendors, live glass blowing, food trucks and a cannabis competition, with awards handed out for the best in the flower, solvent, non-solvent, edible and vape cartridge categories.

Friday night’s marijuana-loving performers were scheduled to include reggae alt-rock band the Dirty Heads and rapper The Alchemist.

The festival — put on by Chalice California — starts up again at noon Saturday, with a celebration to mark the New Year at midnight and fun continuing until 2 a.m.

Saturday performers scheduled include producer and DJ 12th Planet and Rae Sremmurd. Tickets for Saturday start at $60. For more information, visit HappyPlaceFest.com.

But first, check out our slideshow of photos from the first day of the festival.

Vanessa Sahagun sets out merchandise at the 420 Nurses booth during the Happy Place Festival, held at the High Desert Event Center in Victorville. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Apparel and accessories with marijuana leaves are displayed at the cannabis-themed festival, which runs through New Year's Eve in the high desert. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Glass blowers work on smoking pieces at the Happy Place Festival. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Plants are on display at the first annual Happy Place Festival at the High Desert Event Center. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Doug Tobias, 35, shows off cupcake samples at a cannabis-themed festival in the High Desert. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Flowers on display at the Happy Place Festival at the High Desert Event Center in Victorville. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun)
Dustin Ortega of Sacramento offers cycle rickshaw rides to event-goers at the Happy Place Festival. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
A worker straightens a wall hanging of Jerry Garcia at the Happy Place Festival, put on by Chalice California. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Robert Adolph, center, heats up glass to be used as a smoking piece during the Happy Place Festival, which kicked off Friday and continues on New Year's Eve. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Robert Adolph, center, heats glass to be used as a smoking piece during a cannabis-themed event held at the High Desert Event Center in Victorville. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Dennis de Bolt of Victorville greets Daisy, a 2-year-old Great Dane, at the Happy Place Festival in Victorville. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Vendors bring products into the Happy Place Festival, a cannabis-themed event headlined by reggae alt-rock band the Dirty Heads. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
More than 200 brands of weed were slated to be represented during the two-day festival. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
A vendor shows off a strain of flowers on display at the Happy Place Festival. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Robert Adolph, center, heats up a piece of glass to be used as a smoking piece during the Happy Place Festival at the High Desert Event Center in Victorville. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun/SCNG)
Vendors show off varieties of marijuana for sale at the Happy Place Festival, a live art and music event in the high desert. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun)