California State Fair to Present their own first ever Cannabis Awards

Campaigning against Maine’s Question 1 ballot measure in 2016, which eventually legalized adult-use cannabis in The Pine Tree State, then-Governor Paul LePage posted a video warning that if the measure were passed, “They will smoke weed and sell pot at state fairs.” Six years later, while smoking or selling won’t be allowed at the California State Fair, the fair will host its first ever Cannabis Awards to highlight the harvest of the state’s licensed cannabis cultivators. Taking its place amongst cheese, olive oil, craft beer and other food and beverage items highlighted and judged by the fair, over seventy awards will be handed out at the Cal Expo in Sacramento this coming July, after which the State Fair itself, through its social media channels and outreach, will take an active role in promoting the prize-winning flower. And if that sounds like normalization of the market, well, according to a bullet-pointed list on the State Fair’s website, “Pathways to Normalization and Destigmatization” alongside “Reaching a New Audience” are amongst the competition’s stated goals.

Granted, the New York State Fair did beat the California State Fair to the punch by allowing cannabis consumption on its fairgrounds last year. And the California State Fair hasn’t necessarily originated the idea of a cannabis competition. High Times started the party back in Amsterdam with its Cannabis Cup in 1988, awarding it that year to Skunk #1, and California has hosted the Emerald Cup and has even hosted their own regionally flavored competition in Northern California since 2003. However, both competitions rely on the subjective assessments of judges. In contrast, the California State Fair will award a series of gold and silver medals based upon the cannabinoid and terpene amount measured by State Fair testing lab partner SC Labs. By doing so, they’ll also be discarding sativa, indica and hybrid categories in favor on three divisions based on light source, as well as categories within each division determined by cannabinoids, terpenes and terpene/cannabinoid ratios. In short, less strain, more chemovar.

California State Fair Divisions and Categories

Divisions

• Indoor
• Mixed-Light
• Outdoors

Categories

Terpenes*

• Myrcene
• Pinene
• Caryophyllene
• Ocimene
• Terpinolene
• Ocimene

Cannabinoids

• THCa
• CBDa
• CBGa

*A seventh award in this category will go to a flower with a co-dominant terpene profile (i.e. a flower with roughly equal amounts of pinene, caryophyllene and myrcene.)

Gold and silver medals will be awarded for winners in each category. In addition, a handful of flowers will be awarded the Best of California Golden Bear trophy for “science-based indicators” of quality in a variety of characteristics, such as cannabinoid ratio, curing and genetics. Aside from the awards, the State Fair intends to promote the awarded strains through both its social media channels and its larger legacy media reach.

While the competition, administered for the Fair by Cultivar Brands, has eschewed assessment from judges, it has enlisted the assistance of longtime cannabis industry vets, or “ambassadors,” such as cannabis attorney Omar Figueroa, Fiddler’s Green/High Tide Distribution co-founder Cameron Hattan and Berkeley Patient Group VP Etienne Fontan to endorse the competition within the state. The Fair will also host installations and vendors (minus any THC products) in a 21-and-over section of the fairground that will highlight the history, science and heritage of the plant, from its use as hemp in colonial times to the federal ban and its rediscovery in the ‘80s as a medical powerhouse. As Cultivar Brands founder Brian Applegarth told the San Francisco Chronicle, “I just really invite everybody to come out and learn about this really complex and very exciting plant and all the capabilities around it because it’s so inclusive.”

Applicants can enter their cannabis through the SC Labs portal until the end of April. Winners will be announced in June.