DENVER — Six years ago, the NOCO Hemp Expo started at a little club in northern Colorado with 350 people in attendance.
That's how Elizabeth Knight remembers it. Knight is the Vice President of We Are For Better Alternatives (WAFBA).
“We brought people together from all over the world to talk about the benefits of industrial hemp," Knight said Saturday, during the chaos of the final day at NOCO.
For 6 years, the NOCO Hemp Expo has been bringing people together to talk about hemp. The expo has attracted so many people that the Crowne Plaza Convention Center in Denver reached capacity this weekend with more than 10,000 people.
Goes to show just how popular the hemp industry has gotten, and how much more you can expect to hear about it.
“There are 50,000 uses for industrial hemp," Knight told 9NEWS. "From clothing to paper, all kinds of materials for building, for insulation, for animal feed and fuel for nutritional items."
More than 225 vendors were at the expo to talk about, advertise and discuss what they've been able to do with hemp. Between the growers, farmers, developers and consumers, the hemp community is passionate about the differences between hemp and marijuana.
"Conventions like this tell the difference. So far I haven't seen any mention at all of marijuana here," said Craig Lee, an expo visitor all the way from Kentucky.
There was no mention of marijuana because NOCO is a hemp expo and hemp and marijuana are different. Education about that difference is very important to this community.
“We want people to have different choices in their daily lifestyles for the nutrition they can have, the clothes they can wear, how they build their houses," said Knight. "We just want to give people choices.”
Lee offered anyone who's interested a few words of advice: "If you're confused about it, come to these events and it'll straighten up your world."
Saturday was the last day of the sixth NOCO Hemp Expo but organizers expect next year's expo will be even bigger.
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