Directors declared that California cannabis vendors would be capable of participating in a unique, state-approved cannabis competition at the California State Fair come 2022.
While cannabis groups have been engaging in various private tournaments like the High Times Cannabis Cup for ages, this designates the first time a state legislature or relevant agency will sponsor such an event.
This declaration comes nearly five years after California voters passed an initiative to legalize cannabis for adult use. Cannabis contenders who attend the 2022 State Fair will be treated the corresponding way as wine, beer, and cheese merchants—a necessary sign of the normalization of the cannabis trade.
‘We are excited to celebrate California’s legal and authorized cannabis businesses part of the CA State Fair in 2022,’ California Exposition & State Fair Board of head honcho Jess Durfee stated in a press announcement. ‘For the past 165+ years, the California State Fair has always been an original mover, commanding the State Fair realm with creative programming and large competitions that commemorate the best the state of California has to offer, delivering the addition of cannabis culture a natural modern category.
The California Exhibition & State Fair, an autonomous Californian agency authorized by law under the state’s food and agriculture statute, will be operating with the cannabis marketing and events firm Cultivar Brands to hand out awards for the ‘cannabis cup’ style event.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is an ex-member of the California State Fair Board of Directors, as are numerous California lawmakers.
‘The beginning of a state-sanctioned award exhibit will demonstrate the California farmer, huge and petite, and the unimaginable cannabis flower that the state of California has to provide.’ Cultivar Brands Director Brian Applegarth stated. ‘We will also teach, un-taboo the cannabis plant, and challenge the outdated narratives.’
Unlike several other special cannabis tournaments, this one will not be assessed on the idiosyncratic evaluations of cannabis aficionados. Alternatively, the competition at the state fair will be formulated on ‘science-based inquiry implemented and approved by SC Labs,’ cannabis measuring venture, winners will be chosen.
The tournament is open to all licensed cannabis growers in California, and participants will be grouped under distinct clubs for indoor-cultivated cannabis, outdoor and hybrid lighting. Seventy-seven medals will be granted, including the “Golden Bear” trophy for “Best [cannabis] of California.”
The submission period for entrants will run from November 1 of 2021 until March 30, 2022.
‘SC Labs will provide all participants with the necessary Certificates of Analysis (COAs), as well as a PhytoFacts report that will distinguish all the unique cannabinoids of the submission to discover the California State Fair Cannabis Exhibit award champions,” the press release summarily stated.
‘I’m excited to be associated with the California State Fair because it is the common place where the farming community comes to display their best grow’ SC Labs Head Guy Josh Wurzer said. ‘Additionally, this validates cannabis as part of the Californian agricultural community.’
On the other side of the nation in New York City, lawmakers announced before of this year’s State Fair that, since cannabis was approved in the state earlier this year, adults could consume cannabis in any place where tobacco use is allowed.
Although the California State Fair cannabis event will host the cannabis tournament, officials made it explicitly clear that “there will be NO sales or consumption of cannabis products containing THC at the California State Fair next year.”
Although that may seem like a bummer for those expecting a Cannabis Cup-style event, it is a step in the right direction. It takes a lot for a state to host such an event while cannabis is still federally illegal.