Little Town, Lots of Weed

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Wintersville: The Tiny Ohio Town That Accidentally Won the Weed Economy

There are a lot of places you’d expect to dominate Ohio’s recreational marijuana market.

Columbus, maybe. Cleveland, obviously. Cincinnati, if it could stop arguing with Northern Kentucky for five minutes.

But Wintersville?

No offense to Wintersville, a village of fewer than 3,700 people tucked near the Ohio River, but this is not exactly the kind of place you expect to become one of the hottest cannabis markets in the state. And yet, since recreational marijuana sales began in Ohio in August 2024, this tiny Jefferson County village has quietly turned itself into a full-blown marijuana boomtown.

That’s right. While bigger cities were busy being bigger cities, Wintersville was out here doing what every good small town hero does: minding its business, staying weirdly efficient, and making an obscene amount of money off people crossing state lines for gummies.

The setup is almost too perfect. Wintersville sits near both West Virginia and Pennsylvania, two neighboring states where recreational marijuana is still illegal. So now, people from Pittsburgh, the West Virginia panhandle, and beyond are making the pilgrimage to this otherwise quiet village to stock up on vapes, tinctures, flower, and edibles like it’s some kind of green-tinted retail oasis.

And the numbers are absurd.

Wintersville’s two dispensaries have sold more marijuana than Cleveland, a city with roughly 100 times the population. They are outselling Akron too, because apparently population density matters less than geographic luck and a nearby border full of people who would also enjoy legally purchasing a gummy bear that makes laundry feel profound. Wintersville now ranks seventh among more than 100 Ohio local governments that are home to dispensaries.

This is the part where the underdog movie music swells.

Because Wintersville is not some flashy growth machine. It’s an old mill town. The population has declined for decades. Like many Appalachian-adjacent communities, it has spent years watching the industries that once sustained places like this shrink, move, or disappear entirely. And now, in one of the strangest economic plot twists Ohio has produced in recent memory, weed is helping write the comeback story.

Since August 2024, the village’s share of state marijuana tax revenue has totaled about $1 million. For context, that is an enormous amount of money for a place this size. Local officials are now talking about using it to create a perpetual investment fund to support infrastructure and future community projects. In other words, while half of Ohio is still debating whether legal weed is morally acceptable, Wintersville is over here trying to fund sidewalks and water lines with it.

A true public servant knows opportunity when he sees it.

And yes, this story gets even more Ohio.

Before becoming mayor, Mike Petrella actually started one of the village’s first dispensaries. Later, he sold it to Greenlight, a Missouri-based company. So naturally, the man helping steer Wintersville’s marijuana-fueled civic future is also someone who helped build its cannabis economy in the first place. In any other state, this would sound like the pilot episode of a prestige drama. In Ohio, it is just called local government.

To be fair, Wintersville didn’t do this through hype. There are no flashy brand campaigns here, no neon “green rush” nonsense, no self-important speeches about disruption. In fact, local officials say the dispensaries are quiet, secure, and rarely cause problems. Calls for service are rare. The village administrator described them as some of the most secure places in town. Which is honestly beautiful. The accidental hero of this story is not chaos. It is competence.

And that might be the most surprising part of all.

For years, marijuana opponents sold the public on visions of disorder, danger, and moral collapse. But in Wintersville, the dispensaries are not blowing up the community. They are helping fund it. They are bringing in outside money, supporting local revenue, and creating a tax stream that may eventually outpace the village’s income tax collections. Not bad for a product half the state used to talk about like it was satanic oregano.

Of course, there is still tension in the background. Transporting marijuana across state lines remains illegal under federal law, even if enforcement is murky. And local leaders are nervous the state could eventually change how tax revenue is distributed, because nothing says Ohio governance like finally finding a revenue stream that works and then immediately worrying the statehouse will snatch it back.

But for now, Wintersville is winning.

This little village, with its hometown-heart slogan and old-school Ohio bones, has become one of the most successful marijuana markets in the state not because it reinvented itself into something trendy, but because it happened to be in exactly the right place when the laws changed and had just enough vision not to waste the moment.

And honestly, that is a very Scarlet Letter kind of hero.

Not polished. Not glamorous. Not the place anyone would have picked.

Just a tiny river town quietly smoking the competition

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: The first major rock 'n' roll concert and generally considered the world's first rock concert, was the Moondog Coronation Ball in Ohio in what year?

A. March 21st, 1952
B. February 18th, 1949
C. April 29th, 1898
D. June 3rd, 1969

Columbus Has a Billion-Dollar Music Economy, and We’re Still Acting Like It’s a Side Hobby

Columbus loves to call itself a growing city. A city on the rise. A city of momentum, cranes, and endless presentations about the future.

And according to a new economic impact study from Music Columbus, one of the things already helping carry that future is music. Not in a cute, “support your local band” way. In a real-money, real-jobs, real-tax-revenue way.

The study found that Columbus’ music economy, including the local music industry and music-influenced tourism, generated more than $1.3 billion in output, nearly $800 million in value added, $380 million in earnings, and 9,244 jobs in 2024. It also estimates the city realized about $5.6 million in tax revenue from that activity.

Which is a nice reminder that music is not just a vibe. It is payroll.

For years, Columbus has treated music like a bonus feature. We talk about development, jobs, sports, tech, housing, logistics, and then somewhere near the bottom of the brochure it says, “also, there are concerts.” But this report makes clear that venues, artists, festivals, studios, promoters, and the spending around them are already functioning like a serious economic engine.

A lot of that money is coming from people who do not even live here.

The study estimates that music-influenced tourism alone accounted for $840.5 million of the total impact and supported 6,263 jobs. It also found that 5.1% of Columbus tourism spending, or about $418.3 million, was attributable to music, including more than $161 million in lodging, $101 million in food and beverage, and $60 million in entertainment and recreation spending.

So yes, that out-of-towner in a black band tee spending too much money in the Short North is technically participating in economic development.

The study’s bigger point is that Columbus has been underselling this for years. Music is woven into the city’s identity, but it is still oddly muted in the way Columbus markets itself. The report notes that while Experience Columbus does include live music on its website, the city still does not treat music as a central pillar of its tourism brand. That is pretty incredible for a city that loves branding itself as innovative, creative, and culturally alive.

And here is the catch.

The report argues that Columbus is largely a city of audiences and artists, not a major music production hub like Nashville. It compares the city more to Austin, where live music demand drives the ecosystem. But it also says what local musicians already know: Columbus is not yet deep enough to support lots of full-time artists. Local musicians on average derive only about one-fifth of their income from music, and 68% of census respondents work another job outside music.

In other words, Columbus loves live music. Columbus does not always love paying the people who make it.

That tension runs through the whole study. On the strength side, Columbus has major venues, festivals, affordability, a young population, and a strong audience base. On the weakness side, the report cites a lack of leadership unity, weak business and government support, no central event calendar, a “sports-first mentality,” and an “identity crisis” around music.

“Sports-first mentality” might be one of the most Columbus phrases ever written.

Because of course this city has spent years acting like the only sounds that matter are marching bands, goal horns, and 100,000 people pretending a noon kickoff is a spiritual experience. Meanwhile, music has been quietly filling hotels, feeding bars and restaurants, supporting jobs, and making the city more attractive to the same young professionals every economic development person claims they want. The report explicitly says music matters for talent attraction and retention in a modern economy.

The recommendations are straightforward.

The study says Columbus should launch a real music-focused visitor marketing campaign, create a branded music and entertainment district, and invest in Music Columbus or a similar organization so someone actually has the resources to execute a long-term strategy.

It also estimates that for every additional percentage point of tourist activity tied to music, Columbus could generate another $168 million in annual economic impact and support more than 1,250 jobs.

That is the sort of number cities usually pretend to care about very deeply.

There is even a built-in funding angle. The report notes that arts and culture tax sources are expected to generate $24.6 million for the arts in 2025, up from $22 million in 2024, and suggests some of that growth could help support a stronger music strategy.

So this is not really a story about whether Columbus likes music. Obviously it does.

It is a story about whether Columbus is finally ready to treat music like infrastructure instead of decoration. Like industry instead of ambiance. Like a real part of the city’s economic future instead of something nice to mention after the serious stuff.

Because the punchline here is that Columbus has spent years trying to become a more interesting, competitive city, and one of the best tools for doing that has been playing onstage the whole time.

And now there is a report politely telling us the band has already started.

We should probably stop standing in the lobby.

Gambling Awareness Month

March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month and here in Ohio, nearly 1 in 5 adults are considered at-risk for problem gambling – that’s about 1. 8 million people around the state of Ohio. Unfortunately, young adults are among the fastest-growing groups that are seeking help, especially since sports betting options have expanded over the past two years. “March Madness can be a perfect storm for problem gambling,” said Derek Longmeier, executive director of the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio. “There are dozens of games, constant betting opportunities and what starts as fun can escalate quickly into a problem.” Longmeier also noted the rise of and lack of regulation of prediction markets – where instead of stocks or products, you buy a guess about the future – can add even more challenges for people trying to navigate that fine line between entertainment and gambling harm. The good news is that Ohio has several great resources for people who are worried about their gambling or betting or those of a loved one, they can visit Pause Before You Play or call Ohio’s Problem Gambling Helpline. Trained and understanding specialists will answer 24/7 at 1-800-589-9966 or text 988.

A) March 21st 1952