BELLAIRE — Holistic Cloud owner and Bellaire Village Council member Bill Schmitt Jr. is gearing up to host the first-ever Ohio Valley 4/20 Cannabis Festival on April 18-20.

Schmitt said he was born on April 20 — a date often referred to as 4/20 and considered an unofficial cannabis holiday across the country. He is looking to provide a weekend full of music, camping and various cannabis-themed activities. The three-day event for people 21 and older is free to attend and will kick off at noon April 18 at 63279 Tar Run Road in Jacobsburg.

He said the festivities will include a blunt rolling contest, bong pong, weed darts, a wheel o’ weed, and a free dab bar, along with a “weed’ster” egg hunt.

Prizes awarded to the winners of the various contests will be cannabis related.

“My birthday is on 4/20, that’s why the universe has me here for a reason, and this is why I do what I do,” he said. “But Easter is falling on 4/20 this year, so I wanted to do a three-day festival at the Sentinels’ (Motorcycle Club) clubhouse. We’re going to have live music (and) limited camping to those who get there the soonest. So we encourage everybody to try to get there as soon as possible, especially if you’re going to be camping.”

He added that the only camping allowed at the event will be in tents, and he encourages everyone planning on camping to set up their tents close together to allow as many tents to be set up as possible.

“There’s going to be a lot of people trying to camp, so we’re going to make sure that they don’t leave a lot of space between their tents so we can maximize occupancy when it comes to getting as many people in there as possible. Try not to rope off a whole area where you have people coming, because we’re going to shut that down pretty quickly,” Schmitt said.

In addition to live music and contests, Schmitt will have a number of vendors — both cannabis related as well as food vendors.

“We’re going to try to have Starlink internet out there, but make sure everybody brings cash if they want to buy something. If we can get the internet out there and get it situated, which should work, the vendors should be able to take cards, but most of it will be all cash,” he said.

He added that an ATM will be on site if additional cash is needed.

Although the full list of live music hasn’t been announced yet, Schmitt said he will be releasing that information soon.

Schmitt has thrown several festivals and events in the past but said that this is the first one where he is the sole organizer.

“I’ve thrown multiple events in the past, but this is the one of the first one that I’m doing completely by myself of this magnitude,” he said. “I’ve gotten a lot of help from my friends in my circle. But, last year we did ‘Everybody Gets Baked’ out in Cadiz, Ohio, at the Thunderbarn with Isaac Wegman, and it was extremely successful. He couldn’t have it out there again this year, so we just brought it to a place where we’ve thrown multiple events and helped OVDJ productions throw events here.”

He added that although he is the sole organizer, he will have an abundance of security on site that will not only be checking attendees’ identifications but also making sure everybody is being safe to ensure the event runs as smoothly as possible.