Taboos over marijuana are going up in smoke, supercharging cannabis expos in Alberta including one taking seed in Calgary next month, say organizers.

Fuelled by a buzz over impending national legalization and eight U.S. states that have dropped pot prohibition, an Edmonton trade show held in early April exceeded attendance expectations, said Kevin Blackburn of organizer Canwest Productions.

“We were hoping for 3,000 to 5,000 people and we doubled that,” he said. 

“We expect the same, if not better, in Calgary.”

There’s no question the momentum in marijuana’s mainstreaming is drawing both exhibitors and the curious out of the weeds for events such as the Calgary Cannabis and Hemp Expo at Stampede Park’s Big Four Building May 6-7, said Blackburn.

“The stigma’s constantly melting away — you’re talking about multi-million dollar companies and mom and pop outfits being represented,” he said, adding the May event’s growth forced it to expand its footprint at the Big Four to 33,000 sq. ft.

He compared the acceptance to that experienced by another yearly event held by his company, the Taboo Naughty but Nice Sex Show.

“Fifty Shades of Grey came out and more people came out,” said Blackburn.

When attendees arrive at the show featuring 110 exhibitors sponsored by medical marijuana specialists Lift Resource Centre, they still won’t find jarred buds or skunky smoke drifting to the ceiling.

Those are still violations of the law but show-goers will find glass-blowers crafting bongs and a beer garden serving a uniquely topical product, said the organizer.

“There’ll be organic hemp ale,” he said.

On April 13, Ottawa announced legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use by the middle of 2018, leaving many of the logistical details for the provinces to determine.

Momentum for Bill C-45 and a wider societal embrace has seen an astonishing traction felt by Alberta’s cannabis community, said Keith Fagin of Calgary 420.

“Oh, big-time, we’re having five expos here this year compared to just one last year,” said Fagin, who attended the April 1-2 Edmonton event and will have a booth at the Big Four show in May.

The Hempfest Cannabis show at the Big Four last October was the first of its kind in Alberta and a harbinger of things to come, said Fagin, who’s toiled in the pro-marijuana trenches since it was barely on the cultural fringe.

Compared to B.C.’s Lower Mainland, which has long been a fantasyland of pot dispensaries, Alberta’s seen as a marijuana backwater, with Calgary known as the city where cannabis crusaders are still rousted by police, acknowledged Fagin.

“We’re looked on as a bunch of backwards, inbred hillbillies,” said Fagin.

While tens of thousands gather annually in Vancouver for brazenly hazy 420 celebrations, Fagin still counsels the hundreds who mingle in Calgary to act gingerly with their joints and pipes.

“We’ve avoided getting arrested, having police wade in and everybody scatter,” he said.

But Fagin said times are changing, and fast.

“It’s about time,” he said.

Canwest’s Blackburn doesn’t have much doubt, either.

“The next time around, we’ll be in a larger hall — it’ll double,” he said.