The township met again in June. The answer didn’t change.
So the decision left the room again — this time for good. It landed where Ray and Judy always believed it should: with the whole community. This November, Big Prairie Township voters will decide whether a licensed consumption lounge can open here in Michigan.
For Jon Stedman and Rick Post — the co-founders of Hikers — every month of delay is a cost. They’ve been active players in Michigan’s cannabis industry since the beginning. Back when “knowing where to get it” meant knowing someone who knew a guy who had a friend related to someone who might have something. They’ve watched this industry grow from the shadows into a legal market worth billions in Michigan alone. They’ve built something real inside it. And they want the people who want this — the hikers, the campers, the Dragon Trail riders — to have a legal place to enjoy it.
The blueprints are done. The engineers are standing by. The staff is ready. The customers are already walking through the door every summer.
The only thing missing is a yes.
Rick and Jon are aggravatingly ready.
Published by Good Dog Media for Hikers Cannabis — Big Prairie Township, Newaygo County, MI
Hey Hikers Cannabis Campers. Listen to This.
A Rare Michigan Cannabis License Goes to a Public Vote This November.
You can’t smoke on the grounds — that’s the law today. What could change it is a Designated Consumption Establishment (DCE) license, which lets a licensed business host on-site cannabis use. No business in Big Prairie Township has one. This November, Big Prairie Township votes on whether one can exist here at all.
Two Rivers. One Corridor. One Decision.
If you’ve spent any time in Newaygo County, you already know “Croton is for floatin’. Hardy’s where you party.”
The Croton-Hardy corridor draws tens of thousands of campers, hikers, mountain bikers, and anglers every single season — people who drive hours to get here, spend money here, and call this place their escape.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a 25-year-old doing the Dragon Trail for the first time, a family loading up the minivan for a long weekend, or someone who’s been coming up here every summer since they were a kid. This place has a pull. And right now, something is happening here that could make it even better.
Right at the edge of all of it sits a building that used to be Rueh’s Hardware Store. Built in 1973. Served this community for decades. Today it’s Hikers Cannabis — a licensed cannabis retailer with a 4.9 rating on Google, a loyal customer base that drives in from across the region, and a vision for what this corridor could become.
That vision has been fighting for approval for years. This November, the decision goes to the community.
The Vote That Wasn't
The Big Prairie Township board gathered to vote on whether to allow a Designated Consumption Establishment (DCE) in the township, the lounge Hikers owners Rick Post and Jon Stedman plan to open in the same plaza. Five board members. One question. Years in the making.
Three of those five board members voted no, including Ray Westgate, the township supervisor, and Judy Baker, the township clerk. For Ray and Judy, it wasn’t about being against the business. They believe a decision this significant belongs to the whole community.
Two board members voted yes. Three voted no. The license didn’t pass the board. The vote that wasn’t became the vote that will be — this November, on the public ballot.
"It's about what the community wants. I chose to leave it to another vote."
The Long Road to November
"We didn't build this for ourselves. We built it for everyone who's ever driven up here and wished there was a place to do this right."
What Hikers Actually Is — Behind the Counter
When you walk into Hikers Cannabis, you don’t walk into what most people picture.
You walk into a retail operation that treats product knowledge like a craft. Every product, every batch, every lab result gets the same scrutiny — terpene profile, cannabinoid breakdown, all of it. That rigor is what’s behind Hikers Hash and Treehuggers — the lines the team hand-selects and stands behind personally. Not because it’s convenient. Because it’s right. Their standards. Built for this community.
The space is clean. Buttoned-up. Professional. The operation runs like a serious retail company because it is one.
This was never a side hustle. It was always a statement about what the cannabis industry could look like when you do it right — locally owned, community-rooted, and accountable to the people it serves.
Rick and Jon’s planned lounge, a separate business in the same plaza, would build on all of that.
What Is a Designated Consumption Establishment — And Why Does It Matter to You?
Let’s back up. Because if you’ve never heard of this before, you’re not alone.
Out of every licensed cannabis retailer in Michigan, only a few hold a Designated Consumption Establishment license. Rick and Jon want to open one here. (Source: Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency Licensing & Statistical Reports)
A DCE is a legal space where adults 21 and older can consume cannabis on premises. You can’t buy it there. You bring your own product, or you order delivery from a licensed retailer nearby. You can eat food. You can’t drink alcohol. Think of it less like a bar and more like a private club — for people who already have what they need and just want a legal, comfortable, well-designed space to use it.
Getting one approved is almost impossible. You need two separate approvals: one from the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency at the state level, and one from your local municipality. The state approval is procedural. The local approval is the chokepoint. Most applicants never make it past that door.
Rick and Jon have been knocking on that door for four years.
Why This Matters to You, Specifically
Here’s the thing nobody tells you when you’re planning a camping trip to Hardy Dam: cannabis is federally illegal on Manistee National Forest land. All of it. (Source: U.S. Forest Service / Controlled Substances Act)
It’s also prohibited in Michigan State Parks, except in your camper or your tent. The trails, the water, the forest — all federally managed land where Michigan’s legal cannabis simply doesn’t apply.
But you’re still there. Tens of thousands of campers visit this corridor every year. The Dragon Trail alone — that 45-mile mountain bike and hiking loop completed in 2024 — draws riders and hikers from across the region every season.
You’re already here. You’re already buying from Hikers. And until a consumption lounge is approved and opens, your legal options for where to sit down and actually consume it are: your tent, your camper, or nowhere.
A licensed lounge in the plaza would sit within walking distance of the campgrounds along this corridor, and next to federal forest where consumption is off the table.
Hikers saw this geography before anyone else did. They built their business here on purpose. They want the people who want this — the hikers, the campers, the Dragon Trail riders — to buy from them, in a space that keeps the market legal, observed, and legitimate. Not in a tent. Not in a parking lot. Here.
That’s not marketing. That’s geography.
What Rick and Jon Are Building
Picture this.
You just finished the Dragon Trail. Your legs are cooked. Your friends are already at the campsite cracking things open. You’re not ready to call it a night — you’re ready for the night to actually start.
You walk into a well-lit lounge. TVs on. Games going. Friends spread out at tables. Food trucks parked outside. Snacks and drinks ready for you to wind down from your trail adventure. On the table — graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. Because yes. Someone thought about s’mores.
You can’t buy here. You bring what you’ve got — or order delivery from Hikers next door — and you actually get to enjoy it somewhere safe that isn’t a tent or a parking lot.
The staff knows their stuff. Not in a gatekeeping way. In a “let me help you find exactly what you’re looking for” way. Whether you know exactly what solventless rosin is and why it matters, or you’re starting from scratch — the Hikers team has got you.
It’s the place that should have existed years ago. It doesn’t yet. But it’s designed, engineered, staffed, and ready to open the moment Big Prairie Township gives it the go-ahead.
You can find them on Instagram and Facebook at @hikerscannabis. Stop in before you hit the trail. Or after. Either way — they’re there.
Michigan Voters Already Answered That Question
Ray Westgate comes from a family of first responders. Judy Baker has served this community for 38 years and is still going. These aren’t people who say no carelessly. When they ask for more time, it means something.
But Jon and Rick aren’t people who show up empty handed. Years of township meetings. Every question answered. Every concern addressed. Every plan revised, refined, and resubmitted.
They bring receipts.
Michigan voters already answered that question. In 2018, statewide, at the ballot box. They said yes to legal cannabis. They said yes to the infrastructure that supports it responsibly. A Designated Consumption Establishment isn’t a loophole or an experiment. It’s exactly the kind of regulated, licensed, supervised space the law was designed to create. It keeps consumption legal. It keeps it observable. It keeps it out of tents and parking lots and gray areas where nobody wins.
And here’s what township officials already know: a licensed cannabis retailer sends real money straight to Big Prairie Township every year through the state’s marijuana tax distribution.
A consumption establishment would add another layer on top of that — entry fees, food sales tax, jobs. Every dollar a visitor spends here ripples outward into the local economy. In a county where tourism is already the number one industry, that math matters.
There’s an old principle in business, in sports, in any competitive endeavor: you incentivize your best player. You don’t make them wait. You don’t send them to the bench while the clock runs. You give them the ball.
Hikers Cannabis is already putting points on the board for Big Prairie Township. The lounge would be the next play.
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The Months Ahead
The vote is set. This November, Big Prairie Township residents will decide whether a licensed consumption lounge can open here, one of only a few in Michigan.
All parties will read this. That’s okay. This story is worth telling honestly.
Township officials have served this community with integrity. Their caution comes from a real place. Jon and Rick have built something worth fighting for. Their frustration comes from a real place too.
The blueprints are done. The engineers are on standby. The staff is ready. The customers are already there.
You’re almost to Croton-Hardy. The Dragon Trail is waiting. So is the water, the forest, the escape from everything else.
This November, something else will be waiting too.
Rick and Jon are aggravatingly ready. The question is whether Big Prairie Township is ready to say yes.
Find Hikers Cannabis at hikersmi.com and @hikerscannabis on Instagram and Facebook. Located at 6295 E. 36th Street, White Cloud, MI 49349. CRA License AU-R-000867. Must be 21+ with valid ID. Keep out of reach of children.
