Salkum resident Roy Talbott is in the process of obtaining a retail cannabis license to make his smoke shop — The Evergreen Egg — Lewis County’s newest dispensary in Winlock.
He is currently only selling some tobacco products along with glass pipes and other leftover miscellaneous items from his time as a gun show vendor.
A former mobile forklift mechanic who says he was tired of being mistreated by corporate bosses, Talbott is now enjoying being his own boss and running his own business.
On Monday, Oct. 27, the Winlock City Council approved his request to the city to obtain the license, and he is now working with Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) to complete the licensing process.
The business is located at 122 SE First St. in Winlock and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Chronicle visited The Evergreen Egg on Thursday, Oct. 30, to learn more about the possible new dispensary and why Talbott settled on Winlock for the location.
Originally, he opened it only as a smoke shop, but customers kept asking when it was going to become a dispensary.
Talbott said the timeline on that request is all up to the LCB.
“For the last month, we’ve been dealing with the LCB and their new portal, which has been a fun deal. They’re changing programming, and I just happened to be caught up in the middle of it and the first person to do it, so there are some growing pains,” Talbott said. “But things are moving right along at this point. I’m uploading stuff into the portal. Don’t know quite how much longer it’s going to be.”
He hopes to have the LCB process completed by the end of November. Once he obtains the retail cannabis license, he’ll be able to line up his banking as well and open The Evergreen Egg as a dispensary.
Originally, Talbott came up with the idea for a retail cannabis store in Lewis County in August of 2023 with another business partner.
“It started in a bar on a napkin,” Talbott added.
He stated he and his original business partner had a falling out and Talbott bought him out of his share of the business, but Winlock still hadn’t been settled as the business’ location.
Born and raised in Lewis County and living mostly in Salkum, Talbott’s family roots there go back to the 1930s when his great grandfather bought old logging mill land in the unincorporated Lewis County community.
The family built and ran the Talbott Grocery Store, which still stands and operates today as the Salkum Super Market.
“We had a store there out in Packwood also, where the brewery is there now,” Talbott said.
With a moratorium still standing in Lewis County barring cannabis dispensaries in unincorporated areas, keeping him from opening in Salkum, he shopped his idea of a cannabis dispensary around at other rural Lewis County city councils.
That included Mossyrock, Morton, Toledo, Winlock and Napavine. Toledo and Winlock’s city staff seemed the most receptive to it, he said.
“Then it came down to location, zoning and schools,” Talbott said.
Needing to be at least 1,000 feet away from any school, the location he’s at now allows him to maintain that 1,000-foot boundary while still being located in Winlock’s downtown area.
Being in Winlock, which prides itself on being the home of “The World’s Largest Egg,” Talbott intends on constructing “the world’s largest green egg” outside of The Evergreen Egg.
Since nobody, at least that Talbott could find, currently has the largest green egg, whatever size egg he makes will be the world’s largest green egg. However, obtaining the retail cannabis license comes first.
Having already had The Evergreen Egg in Winlock open as a smoke shop since this past April, Talbott added the business has already enabled him to get involved and give back to the community, both his own out in Salkum and in Winlock.
“Bo, he lives in Silver Creek and he’s a patron there at the Brown Shack (Tavern). He had his camper burn down on him at the beginning of the summer,” Talbott said.
With a spare 40-foot camper on his own property, Talbott was able to afford donating the camper to ensure he still had a place to stay.
And after the Winlock Egg Days celebration this year, Talbott was invited to join the board of the South Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, which he now serves on.
He also helps promote events at the Winlock Olequa Senior Center and local granges, sharing events being held at the senior center and granges on The Evergreen Egg’s Facebook page.
For more information, follow or message Talbott on The Evergreen Egg’s Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/2mk6m39h.
