MAY 27, 2025
Sidetrack Teams Up with SWAY Dispensary to Launch First-Ever FROZÉ Cannabis Gummy, Bringing Iconic Frozen Drink Experience Beyond the Bar for the First Time Ever this PRIDE Month
The collaboration marks the first time the “#1 Gay Bar in the U.S,” Sidetrack, has made a branded flavor product available outside the bar in its 43-year history as a cornerstone to the midwest’s queer community.
FROZÉ edibles are expected to be available June 1, 2025 exclusively at SWAY, Illinois’ only queer, black and latino owned recreational cannabis dispensary
CHICAGO, IL (May 27, 2025) - Sidetrack, Chicago’s legendary LGBTQ bar, has teamed up with SWAY, Illinois’s first queer and BIPOC cannabis dispensary, to launch an unprecedented collaboration: the FROZÉ cannabis gummy. Inspired by Sidetrack’s iconic frozen drinks, this new edible delivers the fun, flavor, and energy of America’s favorite gay bar in a new way just in time for Pride Month. FROZÉ edibles will be sold exclusively at SWAY Dispensary, directly across from Sidetrack. More information and online ordering is available at www.everybodysway.com
Longtime Chicago queer activists and husbands Art Johnston and Pep Peña opened Sidetrack in 1982. In May of 2024, the couple partnered with long-time cannabis equity advocate Edie Moore opened SWAY Dispensary, Illinois’ first LGBTQ, black and latino owned dispensary. FROZÉ will join a line up of SWAY’s exclusive in-house brands, which include the dispensary’s best selling product SWAY Boogie. Sold in packs of 20, each FROZÉ gummy includes 5 mg THC, infused with green tea extract, caffeine, vitamin B12, and an uplifting terpene blend.
For over 40 years, Sidetrack has been synonymous with community, celebration, and more than 30 unforgettable frozen flavors, helping define Chicago’s LGBTQ+ scene. The FROZÉ, one of Sidetrack’s most beloved flavors, now inspires a new kind of buzz: a non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused gummy designed to evoke the same joyful, inclusive energy Sidetrack is known for.
“Sidetrack has always been about creating fun, accessible, and memorable experiences that celebrate the diversity and joy of the LGBTQ community,” says Johnston, who brought the idea of frozen drinks back from a 1986 trip to Key West. “SWAY shares these values while working to champion inclusivity and access in the cannabis space.”
In coming together to launch FROZÉ, Sidetrack and SWAY are offering this booze-free buzz as a new way to savor the Sidetrack experience- whether at home, at a gathering, or celebrating Pride across the city.
“If you ask someone what they remember about Sidetrack, they’ll probably say Showtunes and Slushies!” says Peña. “With these edibles, folks can bring a touch of that Frozé experience anywhere and sway to their own beat.”
“Independent, social equity cannabis companies in Illinois are under immense external pressures, especially from illicit markets and unsafe, unregulated products posing as real legal cannabis,” added SWAY co-owner Edie Moore and a leading voice for cannabis equity. “We’re so proud to partner with our friends at Sidetrack, especially at a time when inclusivity, equity and even our joy are under attack. Partnerships like this help give consumers greater peace-of-mind that they’re purchasing from trusted, regulated businesses that also share their values.”
Sidetrack’s approach to frozen drinks was groundbreaking for Chicago. After introducing slushies in 1986, what was at first a seasonal novelty quickly became a year-round phenomenon. In 1999, the bar installed innovative underground frozen lines and multiple dispensing spouts, allowing it to serve large crowds in a bar that started as a single 1,000-square-foot bar and has expanded across more than eight storefronts, hosting more than 1,000 people at a time.
PHOTO CREDITS: Sidetrack