Any Ulster County baby boomers nursing a grudge because we don't have flying cars can now find solace at our region's latest claim to fame: America's Most Space Age Cannabis Dispensary has landed in Kingston, setting up shop in a long-vacant local landmark.

The twin snow white geodesic domes just off the Route 28/Route 209 traffic circle, originally built to house an organic gardening center, now serve as home to Domes Dispensary, where the full array of contemporary cannabis products are on sale — flower, edibles, vapes, tinctures, the whole THC kit and kaboodle.

What Buckminster Fuller would have to say about this is anyone's guess. Although the geodesic dome was not his invention it was the architect/futurist Fuller who is credited with introducing the form to a wider audience. Even greater renown followed the form's large-scale use as pavilions at the New York World's Fair in 1964 and at the Montreal World's Fair in 1967.

For Domes co-founder Jennifer Dundas, a Massachusetts native and Columbia County resident for almost 20 years, the form's appeal was immediate. “We just happened to know someone who knew someone who knew that the space was available for purchase, and that's how we came across it,” Dundas said. “We just got incredibly lucky. We walked in, and we're just instantaneously in love with the space, like there was not a single moment of hesitation, which is the incredible thing. I mean, with real estate, there's always a lot of back and forth, and there's always a lot of hemming and hawing, oh, I don't know, is this the right thing? And it's a huge choice. But for us, it was absolutely instantaneous.”

A strong connection with local cannabis growers is a major theme at Domes, out of both necessity (federal law forbids interstate processing and sales of cannabis) and philosophy. Speaking of the uneven rollout of legalization in New York, Dundas observes, “It was not perfectly executed but the feeling behind it, the intention behind it, the values behind it, were very much aligned with my kind of worldview and belief. That when you're doing business, you’ve got to be also making the world a better place. So it's exciting to me that I've got this opportunity to just move right into a business where I can execute on my values, supporting local farmers.”

That approach has been time-tested by Dundas, whose previous retail incarnations include (following a notable career as an actor in film and New York theater) co-founding and developing Brooklyn-based women-owned organic ice cream brand Blue Marble, whose activities included financial aid to Harlem youth advocates The Brotherhood Sister Sol and mentoring of women entrepreneurs in Rwanda and Haiti.

Like every business, Domes has been a group effort. Dundas' husband David Tivnan, a career electrical contractor, oversaw the design and construction of the shop's interior and grounds. Los Angeles graphic designer Abby Weintraub devised Domes' logo and the shop's visual elements. Carpentry was overseen by Daniel Bishop of Bishop and Sons, part of the team that first built the domes.

Dundas, in a phone interview, told Kingston Wire local response since opening has been “great, really supportive ... People feel that that this plant has so much to offer, and it's different for everyone. And I really can't wait to see the way that continues to evolve, that we are able to have access to more research. Because, you know the idea of growing a plant five minutes down the road in Hurley, harvesting it organically, being able to put it in a package and sell it at our shop ... This is not going through Big Pharma. This is not going through a cartel. This is, this is a huge, huge movement. And I'm honored to be part of it.”