2nd Annual State-Sanctioned Cannabis Competition at the State Fair
Press release from the California State Fair:
The CA State Fair [yesterday] announced the second annual, state-agency sanctioned cannabis competition is set to take place in conjunction with the 2023 CA State Fair. Following the first year’s success, cannabis will once again be celebrated alongside California’s rich agricultural industries on the official state fair roster including wine, craft beer, olive oil and cheese. The CA State Fair Cannabis Awards and Exhibit will be on display at the CA State Fair from July 14-30, 2023, at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds in Sacramento, California.
“The 2022 Cannabis Awards and Exhibit were an overwhelming success for Cal Expo and the State Fair, and the 2023 edition promises to be even better,” said Cal Expo Board of Directors Chairman Jess Durfee. “We are here to support and celebrate the best of California, and we are always looking for new programming to inspire and delight our guests for the 17 days of the CA State Fair.”
California and cannabis have been culturally intertwined for decades. From the beatnik era and the Summer of Love to the War on Drugs and the medicinal impact of cannabis during the AIDS epidemic, California has always been at the center of the cannabis conversation. In 2018, cannabis became legal for adult recreational use in the State of California, and since that time has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry. California leads the nation in cannabis cultivation, craft and genetics, and these Awards are a celebration and recognition of those deep agricultural roots.
The CA Cannabis Competition and Awards have been developed in partnership between the California Exhibition & State Fair and Cultivar Events, a California-based marketing and events agency who specializes in the creation of programs that continue to move cannabis into the mainstream.
“Cultivar Events Is thrilled to be part of this historic moment for the cannabis industry,” said Cultivar Events CEO James Leitz. “We are grateful for all the industry support from the participating farmers, sponsors, cannabis ambassadors and the 85,000 fairgoers who enjoyed the inaugural California Cannabis Exhibit.”
The competition is open to all licensed cannabis growers in California. Entrants will be classified into three primary divisions for submission by light source: indoor, mixed light and outdoor. The competition will award medals for the cannabis flower only, showcasing the primary cannabinoids and terpenes expressed in the cannabis flower. Eight individual cannabis plant compounds will be tested and identified for awards, including five terpenes and three cannabinoids, as well as a co-dominant terpene profile and overall terpene abundance. More than 60 silver, gold, and double gold medals will be awarded including 11 coveted Golden Bear trophies for the “Best of California.”
“Greenshock Farms is honored to have been a participant and double Golden Bear Winner at the first-ever CA State Fair Cannabis Awards,” said Greenshock Farms Founder and CEO Mark Greyshock. “We are excited for the opportunity to defend our titles and represent our legacy region, with its unique terroir and show the world just how good California’s sun grown flower can be.”
Once again, the competition will be scored objectively, through science-based analysis performed and certified by SC Labs, California’s premier cannabis and hemp testing lab. All entrants will receive an in-depth PhytoFacts® chemometric report that will identify the unique compounds of cannabis flower submissions to determine the award winners.
The submission window will be open January 10 to April 30, 2023. Award winners will be announced in June 2023.
The CA State Fair [yesterday] announced the second annual, state-agency sanctioned cannabis competition is set to take place in conjunction with the 2023 
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Was there any reason why RHBB did not report on the 2022 winners?
https://castatefaircannabisawards.com/award-winners/
https://castatefaircannabisawards.com/exhibit/
I am glad Kym didn’t. The farms I grow for were not allowed to participate. If you are not in the CLICK then they do everything possible to make it difficult for most farms to submit. The owner at one farm got told sorry don’t have the time for your submission and it was at least three weeks before the deadline. Most calls to inquire go unanswered so it like ya got to have a sponsor/brand like HCGA or another shitty alliance in order to play in the Cannabis award sandbox.
Apparently I missed the press release.
It just seems to me, if the SoHum Cannabis industry wants to promote itself and get the ball rolling to profitability, the State Fair would be a great place to educate the public, win awards and at the same time ridding itself of the stigma of the black market underground economy through a legal process! “The times they are a-changin”!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90WD_ats6eE
Humboldt and mendo were well represented on the winners list last year. Hopefully it does drive some demand.
Also noted that outdoor flower won most of the “best of California” terpene categories, which will hopefully open some consumers up to the benefits of outdoor
I know, I posted a list of winners from last year, its at the top of this thread. I am not disputing what you said, but I cannot find where anyone in Humboldt promoted those Humboldt winners from last year, that’s all…
Ah, I see what you’re saying. Yeah the triangle seems to have struggled with branding and marketing in the legal market.
But hey- we have “terroir” and “the Humboldt name” and such useless crap that has been very mishandled and distracted from reality. How about that “420 festival” vibe that we allowed to be run out of our county? And the Cannabis Cup that by all rights Humboldt should have supported, funded and sponsored right here? Oh- we hate that kind of stuff and ran that out too! And then our Supervisors who ran that stuff out began the abatement program to punish everybody. Really- can’t make this up…the arrogant and pinheaded shit show of failure. We had it and then we gave it all away. Those farms getting awards will all e gone within 5 years. Awards in this business don’t really equate with sales,..Sorry! And nobody cares about Humboldt anymore. Y’all blew it and should have been prepping your market strategy a decade ago instead of letting the Supes throw it all away. Like NOW HSU wants a Department of Cannabis- what a crock of crap! Rollin Richmond ran it all away and now 420 has no relation to Humboldt anymore.
The emerald cup was never in Humboldt and it outgrew its Mendocino home before legalization.
I know you’re very bitter about this topic, you make it very clear on every single story about it when you rant about “you”, “y’all”, “they”, “those farms”, etc… Maybe try some breathe work before you comment on these articles so you’re not so worked up and then decide if you’re a member of this community who was caught up in the tides of powers beyond any of our control or if you’re an outsider who is grumpy that you weren’t listened to.
Yes, the triangle counties botched the legal transition horribly. Mostly they seemed motivated by the same type of bitterness and petty vindictiveness that you display. Many dozens of community members warned the community and the county govt about the errors of their approach, unfortunately we were not able to effectively organize into a meaningful political force.
There’s little value in rehashing (for the trillionth time) the mistakes that have transpired along the road to where we are, unless you’re emotionally married to perpetually occupying an empty “told ya so” stance toward a bunch of people who mostly agree with your thoughts and also failed to get their desired framework implemented in this transition.
Surprise, surprise, a bunch of outlaws who chose to live in remote homesteads aren’t the best at quickly coordinating an organized political action and the legislative tides of the state followed billionaire whims instead of the dreams of some hillbilly millionaires.
The state fair results do demonstrate that the north state still dominates on objective qualities and that there must be something to our “teroir” since emerald County outdoor growers dominated in the terpene categories, beating out indoor and dep growers from all over the state. Despite the failings of past marketing efforts, this indicates that we’ve still got the goods to advertise if we can ever get our act together
//emerald County outdoor growers dominated in the terpene categories, beating out indoor and dep growers from all over the state//
lol, we should start the “Emerald Triangle Rancid Awards” and rank the worst cannabis flower available at dispensaries.
Is any of it any good? I don’t know the last time I was in a dispensary but from what I hear it’s a pretty rough selection. A couple years ago my buddy showed me something he bought in late August and it was listed as packed in March. Presumably dep or outdoor from the previous fall.
I feel for consumers who are constrained to dispensary purchases for whatever reason
Surely we can come up with ten bad examples. Exactly why this needs to happen. Who better to judge the weed. Plus it would help the customers if reviewed properly and by growers gives it some cred.
Maybe some local dispensaries can donate some past date 8ths to the cause!
It’s would be a big move for sohum to get their acts together and get back to business. The name is Known and could be HUGE but there are a lot of obstacles only a community meeting could conquer. Sohum-Cartel.
Don’t laugh. That May be the only way to succeed and bring your neighbors up w you.
Set a price and produce a bad ass product. It’s been done before but would require faith and a leader.
What’s Kym up to these days?
Kym= the new chapo of the SOHum cartel. Or maybe her son wants the job.
H Allen was at it for a bit but found opportunities elsewhere
What is the point of your comment? It appears libel and without basis.
I suppose haters are going to hate, but it’s too bad Kym has to be attacked when she does so much more to help the community than I suspect you could muster in a lifetime.
Pretty sure you misunderstood my posts which may have been poorly worded.
Love the site and the owner has my support.
I wouldn’t have trusted ‘ol Hezekiah to shine my 20 year old danners
They should lower price to enter,I think it was like 600 bucks to or something like that to enter each strain. Only $75 to enter a commercial wine.
Damn I just looked at its $420/sample to test and then a minimum of $225/sample to the state. Pretty brutal
I don’t understand how people can play the weed vs wine card, they are so different and far apart in the scheme of things, apples and oranges. How many wineries get held up at gun point and robbed of their wine or money vs a cannabis farm/grow? Look at it this way, the best Napa Valley appellation wine grapes go for $4,500 to ,$5,000 a ton and how much does the best Humboldt flower go for by the OZ or by the 1/8th? Do the math…
Allow me to clarify my comparison in this particular instance so that you may understand. I only compared cannabis to wine because wine is the second most expensive thing to enter into the fair. I would have compared it to quilts if that had been the second most expensive entry. Prior to the cannabis category, wine was the most expensive entry at $75. So just like everywhere else, the cannabis guy is discriminated against and shaken down for every dollar possible.
“So just like everywhere else, the cannabis guy is discriminated against and shaken down for every dollar possible.”
So I guess you are ok with not lab testing cannabis? Should they be lab testing wine? COA lab testing is $420 (no pun), with the entry fee of $250 per single cultivar = $670. Now what part of this is being “discriminated against and shaken down for every dollar possible.”? Its the price of doing buisness. As for wine, its $75 per wine varietal, so if I wanted to submit a Cab, Zin, Merlot and Pinot that’s $300, the price of doing buisness!
Since wine has be judged at the Ca State Fair for 168 years, maybe the price for cannabis competition will come down over the test of time…
Why not make the entrance fee $75+ the testing fee? And that 250 applies to each cultivar entered. So if I wanted to enter 2 outdoor cultivars and a light dep cultivars I would be looking at over 2000$, or about 4 pounds worth of bud at wholesale.
I have no idea, you need to ask these guys, you need to ask, or nothing will change. Always claiming cannabis growers in HumCo are the victims, is getting a little bit old, the horse is dead, get off…
https://calexpostatefair.com/participate/competitions/california-cannabis/
You asked what part represented bias/discrimination against cannabis producers vs other ag producers invited to compete in the state fair. I answered, and redwood Dan pointed out initially, that it’s the drastically elevated entrance fee that is the discriminatory aspect.
Literally charging cannabis businesses more for the same service. It’s a minor, but explicit, form of discrimination. And it’s the type of thing that many of us have complained directly to various state agencies about the problems.
Again, you are trying to compare cannabis with all other ag products and producers as being the same and they are not! When you can sell cannabis at a farm stand or farmers market like all other ag produce, I would agree with you…
Well the comparison was actually to wine, which you don’t seem to be able to sell at any old farmstand like “all other ag produce”.
But youre correct that robust retail opportunity restrictions for peoducers is another way in which cannabis producers are discriminated against, even compared to other heavily regulated agricultural products like beer and wine. You keep at it and you might just come to understand why so many complain so bitterly about the treatment of our industry by the state.
It costs $500 and a copy of your CA compliance test for cannabis competition @ Emerald Cup. Do you consider that to be discriminated against?
https://enter.theemeraldcup.com/2023-application
The Garberville Hospital District just had a fundraiser at the Benbow Inn, i.e. Wine Auction and Wine tasting. Why not cannabis, given their location? Its because of the regulations and restrictions on cannabis. There is no heavy regulations on beer and wine compared to cannabis. What regulation did the Hospital District need to comply with to auction or serve wine at that event, nothing…
Cannabis Bear – The Movie
That logo makes me think there ought to be a sequel to the film ‘Cocaine Bear’ set in these woods…
https://www.cocainebear.movie/
This is a state press release and it has an promotion (a subtle advertisement) of SC Labs: ……”SC Labs, California’s premier cannabis and hemp testing lab”. Not ‘one of the best’ or ‘a premier lab’, “California’s premier ….lab“.
Is it ethically appropriate to use tax payer money to promote a private business?
I know farms that have used SC Labs and their work was fine. But there are also local distributors who won’t accept their lab tests, while they insist on using what they must believe is “California’s premier lab”. 🙁
Good catch!
Too many people and the price is way too high. A lot higher than the clientele and that’s a problem.
Went once. Never again.
Way to use Kym’s website to promote your opinion while defaming her in a post minutes before. Why bother posting to a site which you articulate such BS at the editor?