The Fire Station's first location in Negaunee is shown. The Fire Station Cannabis Co., the first recreational marijuana provisioning center to open in the Upper Peninsula, is celebrating its one-year anniversary of business today. (Photo courtesy of The Fire Station)

NEGAUNEE — The Fire Station Cannabis Co., the first recreational marijuana provisioning center to open in the Upper Peninsula, is celebrating its first anniversary today.

Since opening in Negaunee Township last October, the locally owned and operated business has grown to 78 total employees and recently opened its second location in downtown Marquette.

The Marquette store is now open for walk-in and curbside recreational sales and the company has also announced plans to open a Houghton store with more locations across the U.P. in the works, according to the release.

“We’re so grateful for the acceptance we’ve seen so far in both Negaunee and Marquette,” owner Logan Stauber said in the release. “It’s amazing to see familiar faces starting to frequent both stores and build those relationships with our customers and the communities we operate in. We’re very excited to continue that across the rest of the U.P. starting in Houghton.”

After opening in October 2019 for medical sales only, the Fire Station was approved for recreational sales in December and delivery services in March. The downtown Marquette location was approved in the spring and opened Aug. 31.

The company has a starting base pay of $12 an hour for all employees and now offers benefit packages, including health care for full-time employees, officials said.

“We’re very proud to be able to bring this much economic impact to our home area,” owner Stosh Wasik said in the release. “This is triple the amount of jobs we initially thought we would be providing and it’s amazing to see the impact on a daily basis.”

According to Headset.io, as of September, Michigan is the fifth-largest marijuana market in the U.S. behind California, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon, officials said in the release.

These numbers come just 10 months after the first recreational sale in Michigan, with July being the first month that recreational sales out-paced medical sales in the state. Michigan also ranks first among the average purchase prices at $84.58. Most estimates have Michigan finishing the year ahead of Oregon and potentially Washington, according to the release.

“Michigan is a super exciting market to be in right now,” Marketing Director Jeremy Johnson said in the release. “The people of Michigan have shown they’re ready to support a legalized market at a rate faster than almost any other state that’s gone legal. We see a huge opportunity here in the U.P. to be a part of this new and growing market.”