Illicit Gardens, a Missouri-based cannabis brand is living up to the title of “You Gotta Get a Gimmick,” a song from the classic musical “Gypsy” by holding a Willy Wonka-inspired 420 contest, which incidentally coincides with Easter Weekend.

The whimsical contest involves all Missouri From the Earth dispensary locations in which 10 winners will discover a “golden ticket” on the inside lid of randomly selected jars of Illicit products: 3.5g Flower, 5g Ready2Roll, 7g Popcorn, Gummies, and Gemstones. Anyone who purchases these aforementioned products can win.

The winners will receive $1,000 worth of free Illicit products and exclusive merchandise. Also, included in the prize package is a VIP tour of Illicit’s weed factory for the winner and a guest.

“We’re always looking at unique ways to cross promote our brands and dispensaries, and this allows us to accomplish that,” said David Craig, vice president of marketing at Illicit Gardens, when asked how the idea of this contest came about. “The ‘golden ticket’ idea is one we’ve talked over since day one, but just never have been able to do it effectively until now.”

The goal for the contest is to build hype around the new products released by Illicit the last six months, added Craig. This includes their infused hard candies Gemstones and diamond infused pre-rolls.

Yet, as fun as this contest may seem to outsiders, the logistics were not easy. Craig admitted it was a challenge but one that the Illicit team were more than equipped to handle.

“Coordinating an effort like this across all stores during what is essentially the Super Bowl of cannabis is no easy feat,” he admitted, “but we’ve been working out the kinks for the last few months and our cultivation, manufacturing, and retail teams have been working closely together to make sure this goes off smoothly.”

The contest starts on Friday April 18 and ends on Sunday April 20. For further information, visit this link.

BRANSON, Mo. (KY3) – The Missouri Highway Patrol is investigating two crashes involving two Branson School District buses.

The crashes happened Tuesday morning. The first bus crashed on State Highway F about a quarter of a mile east of the village of Bull Creek. The bus overturned, injuring two adults.

Investigators say a second bus ran off the same road after the driver was told to turn around because of the first crash. That bus had three students and two adults on board. One adult suffered a wrist injury.

To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com. Please include the article info in the subject line of the email.

Copyright 2025 KY3. All rights reserved.

Gov. Mike Kehoe has nominated four people to serve on the Missouri Board of Education. What this means is the governor is relieving two sitting board members of their duties.

Kehoe has named Michael Matousek, of Kansas City, to replace longtime Board President Charlie Shields. Jon Otto, of Kansas City, has been chosen to replace Vice President Carol Hallquist. Shields and Hallquist had expired terms and were serving at the pleasure of the governor.

Kenneth “Brooks” Miller Jr., of Sunrise Beach, has been chosen to replace the seat temporarily held by Tawni Ferrarini of St. Charles. Miller previously served as the president and CEO of Jordan Valley Community Health Center.

Dr. Thomas Prater, of Springfield, has been picked to take over the seat that he previously held in a temporary capacity. He was originally nominated to replace Peter Herschend of Branson.

Prater is a physician and partner at Mattax-Neu-Prater Eye Center in Springfield. From 2016 to 2020, he served as a Springfield City Councilman. He was also a member of the Springfield R-12 Board of Education from 1998 to 2014.

Charlie Shields (Photo credit: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education)

Jon Otto, of Kansas City, serves as corporate counsel for Evergy, Inc. Otto is a school choice advocate. He has served as a board member for Académie Lafayette charter school, University Health KC, Missouri Charter Public School Association, Child Protection Center, Minddrive, and the UMKC Law Alumni Association.

The decision to replace Shields is one that immediately sticks out. He has been the board president since 2015. Shields, a Republican, is also a former Missouri Senate President Pro Tem.

His chosen replacement, Matousek, serves as the director of the Government Freight Conference at the American Trucking Association. Matousek was once a registered Missouri lobbyist but is not at this time.

Due to residency, a decision that was expected was to nominate someone to replace Mary Schrag. Kehoe’s announcement today did not include this nomination.

Carol Hallquist (Photo courtesy of DESE)

Schrag currently serves as the West Plains area board member. Her husband was just elected as the Springfield mayor on the other side of the state.

Since she is the owner and chief executive operator of Physical Therapy Specialists Clinic, Inc. in West Plains, that may qualify her to continue to maintain residency in West Plains. Or Kehoe could be making an announcement at a later date.

The political party makeup of the board is required to be four Republicans and four Democrats. However, the party breakdown can be fudged to include Independents so that one political party skirts the requirement.

To officially become State Board of Education members, the Senate has 30 days to approve the nominations. If they don’t, the nominees would be banned for life from serving in the capacity.

An alternative would be for the Senate to send the nominations back to the governor if they are not approved within 30 days. If the Senate returns the nominations to the governor, Kehoe could reappoint them to serve until the 2026 legislative session begins. Then the 30-day clock would restart to seek Senate approval.

The last time Missouri had several board members replaced during the same time period was back when former Gov. Eric Greitens engineered a plan in 2017 to remove members until he found enough who agreed to fire former state Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven. Greitens resigned about seven months later due to a list of allegations involving his mistress and campaign finance violations. The Missouri Board of Education then rehired Vandeven in November 2018.

Copyright © 2025 · Missourinet