MARY is a cannabis culture magazine and creative studio from New York, run by MARY Media Group and founder Adrian Farquharson. It frames cannabis through fashion, music, art and food, in themed print editions, agency work and its own Brooklyn festival, MARY Fest.
MARY Fest 2026 took place on Friday, June 19, 2026 at 99 Scott Avenue in Brooklyn, timed to the summer solstice.
An idea from Art Basel Miami in 2014
Farquharson, a New Yorker with Jamaican roots, told The Marijuana Times in 2019 that the magazine grew out of a conversation at Art Basel Miami in 2014. He and a photographer friend were talking about the cannabis business taking shape in California and Colorado.
His conclusion was that the category had no premium coffee-table magazine. He also wanted a title that dropped the lazy-stoner image, which he said matched no one he knew. MARY Media Group dates to 2015, according to Bushwick Daily.
Themed print editions
MARY is built around themed print editions rather than a fixed schedule. In 2019 Farquharson described editions of 180 to 200 pages, each produced by 35 to 40 contributors around a core staff of 10.
Before MARY, he studied business management, interned at publications including Esquire and ran a culture blog from 2008 to 2016 covering travel, fashion and music.
Mary Creative Agency and MARY Talks
Mary Creative Agency grew out of a product-launch dinner MARY staged for a cannabis brand in September 2016. The agency sets aesthetic direction for brands and gatherings, and the MARY site now presents the company as a creative agency and cultural marketing studio.
MARY Talks, its panel series, has paired cannabis with subjects such as culinary arts and performance. The site says MARY Media Group is expanding and rebuilding its web presence.
MARY Fest from 2023 plans to Scott Avenue
In July 2022 Farquharson, as CEO of MARY Fest, announced a three-day festival for April 20–22, 2023 in New York City. The plan included a “Garden of MARY” outdoor zone, panels on New York’s cannabis industry and a share of ticket sales for the Minority Cannabis Business Association.
MARY Fest 2024 ran on Saturday, April 20, 2024 in a warehouse on Scott Avenue in northern Bushwick. Bushwick Daily reported a trade-show format with vendors including GRAV and Samuel Adams’ non-alcoholic IPA.
The festival’s own site lists editions in 2024 and 2025. It keeps the model of a morning for VIPs, buyers and media followed by general admission.
The 2026 solstice edition
The June 19, 2026 edition opened at 10 a.m. for VIPs, buyers and media, ran for the public from noon to 6 p.m. and closed with an after party led by DJ 9AM. The MARY Speaker Summit hosted two formats, The High Table and Discovery Labs.
MFNY ran the Bloom Bar, a concentrate station and a gummy bar. Grön Edibles hosted a solstice treat lab, and True Terpenes and Jaunty ran a terpene station.
DEADASS NY and Love Till Death debuted fashion capsules, and Ithaca Organics, FOY and Shmackwich joined the lineup in the Garden of MARY vendor zone.
Official channels
Find MARY at mary-magazine.com and on Instagram at @themarymag. The festival lives at themaryfest.com.