Oh Boy! High Times in South Dakota as Sioux Tribe Opens Nation’s First Marijuana Resort: Just 10 months after the U.S. Justice Department gave Native American tribes the authority to legalize marijuana on reservations, the Santee Sioux tribe in southeastern South Dakota plans to open a marijuana resort in Flandreau, S.D.—a remote location about six miles east of the border with Minnesota. The small tribe—it has a population of 400—already operates a casino small hotel and buffalo ranch in the area.
According to an AP article, Santee Sioux leaders sell their own pot in a smoking lounge that includes a nightclub, arcade games, bar and food service, and eventually, slot machines and an outdoor music venue. There are still some questions to be resolved. That is, will visitors have to register in order to buy or smoke marijuana and how much will those who live on the reservation be allowed to possess or transport. There is already a large marijuana growing area on the reservation.
Tribal leaders have already resolved some important questions for visitors to the lounge: Customers will be able to purchase a gram of marijuana in the lounge, likely for between $10 to $15. Customers will be able to buy up to one gram of usable marijuana or marijuana product, or one-tenth of a gram of marijuana concentrate per two-hour period with no more than two purchases in a day. For more information, visit www.santeesioux.com. To review a copy of the tribe’s 29-page marijuana control law, go to: http://www.santeesioux.com/documents/fsst_marijuana_control_ordinance_title_29.pdf
Bob Gilbert Forms Partnership to Create “China Ready Partners” Launches: The new brand is a collaboration of David Huang’s Chinese Host Inc., which was founded in 2000 and is a leading Chinese operator in the Western USA hosting over one million Chinese travelers since 2011, and Francis Hung’s Hung & Kit (Holdings) Ltd. (H&K), a privately held company established by Hung in 1994, and is a leading consultation and representation company for major international travel name brands in China. Their new brand, China Ready Partners, offers a North America- based travel operation, full service representation in China, a booking engine and supplier training, as well as a transportation division.
Las Vegas-based Bob Gilbert, a long-time tour and travel industry veteran who has held senior positions at a number of travel industry organizations including Choice Hotels, Best Western International and Delaware North, has been named to lead the newly formed China Ready Partners brand in North America. For more information, contact Gilbert via bgilbert@chdestination.com or visit the company’s website at www.chdestination.com.
In Pursuit of Chinese FIT’s, Bicycle Adventures, an active travel company, is launching two unique 10-day bicycle tours of Southern California specifically for Chinese speakers. The tours, which depart from San Diego and Los Angeles, are led by Joshua Samuel Brown, a travel writer and lifelong cyclist who is fluent in Mandarin. The tours cover 55 miles a day while cruising scenic routes along the Pacific Coast and into the San Bernardino Mountains. Planned departures for 2016 are Sept. 29 and Nov. 17; spring departures may be added. For more information, visit: http://bicycleadventures.com/destinations/california-bike-tours/Southern-California-Bike-Tour—NEW!
Atlanta Gets Museum of Fashion: On Oct. 3 the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) opened its new fashion museum at its Atlanta campus. The new museum adds 10,000 square feet—a public gallery space, a fashion conservation lab and a media library for educational film and digital presentations—to the existing 27,000 square feet of academic studio space SCAD has dedicated to fashion and fashion marketing and management students.
The inaugural exhibition, Oscar de la Renta, celebrates the house of the late Oscar de la Renta; the Atlanta presentation will feature garments from the mid-1960s through the present, including gowns on loan from former first lady Laura Bush and dresses worn by Taylor Swift and Oprah Winfrey, in addition to select garments by Oscar de la Renta’s new creative director Peter Copping. The exhibition also includes the film “Ovation for Oscar,” which premiered at the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival. Admission to the museum is free. For more information, visit www.scad.edu.
New Tree Hoppers Attraction Brings Out the Inner Tarzan in All of Us: A new adventure attraction has opened in Dade City, Fla.—it is about 40 miles northeast of Tampa—for travelers who enjoy climbing, zip lining and other related activities. Tree Hoppers is spread out over 60 acres and it is has eight courses and more than one hundred different elements like platforms, ladders and ropes for people to use to get from one obstacle to the next. In addition to zip lining, there are rope course elements, climbing elements, free fall elements and tunneling elements. Benjamin Nagengast, who operates Tree Hoppers, says that it is “a great family experience and perfect for groups.” For more information, visit: www.treehoppers.com, or call 813.381.5400.
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