For 170 years, the California State Fair has been highlighting the state’s best agriculture. From cheese and wine to vegetables and livestock, competition over who produces top goods is fierce. Beginning in 2022, California made history by including something new in fair competition: cannabis. With this 2024 season, officials made history once more in creating a space where adults 21 and over could legally smoke, eat and drink cannabis products as part of fair exhibits. The expansion helped give fairgoers an understanding of why the Emerald Triangle is known as the cannabis capital of the world and brought an armful of medals home to Humboldt.
The California Cannabis Experience, a 17-day immersive and educational exhibit that’s the first of its kind for any U.S. state fair, included product displays, educational insights, presentations and lectures. There were also a cannabis retail outlet and designated onsite consumption lounge.
“I started growing with my single mom when I was a kid, so I have a lot of experience with this plant,” said Shanon Talifero of Humboldt’s Skyline Farms, whose team took home five medals. “But still, I personally learned so much from the exhibit. I feel lucky, honored and humbled to have been a part of this experience and hope to be included next year.”
Fair awards for cannabis included not just the indoor, sun-grown and mixed-light categories of the past two years, but also awards for cannabis beverages, cartridges, concentrates, wellness products, pre-rolls and edibles. With thousands of people perusing the well-appointed showcase every day and many partaking in the consumption booth, the California Cannabis Experience offered a chance for cannabis businesses to set up booths and talk to a crowd about the benefits of knowing where their cannabis products come from, how they were cultivated and by whom.
“I was selling my products on the floor at the exhibit and had many conversations with people who were genuinely interested,” said Lorelie Sandemeno, owner of Sunrise Mountain Farms, which won a gold medal for its sun grown Burmese Mimosa strain. “I think that policy makers, customers, people who normally wouldn’t use cannabis … all different sorts of people were at the fair. It was not just a cannabis event so there was a wide variety of people and that really exposes people to the idea that maybe there is something to cannabis, you know, maybe it has all these benefits we keep talking about.”
Producers submitted more than 500 products for the competition. Instead of being dominated by larger corporate entries, the fair included numerous small, local farms, many of which were able to enter using grants facilitated by the Humboldt County Growers Alliance and the Origins Council that covered their entry fees.
Trophies and Medals
The California Cannabis Awards were designed from day one to raise the bar. Entries are lab-tested by SC Labs and evaluated by expert judges from Budist using a 100-point scoring system. Logistics are handled by embarc, Nabis, and Redwood Roots—a supply chain built for transparency and compliance.
In short, this isn’t vibes judging. It’s scientific, standardized evaluation.
At a time when reform conversations are accelerating nationwide, competitions like this help demonstrate that regulated cannabis can meet and exceed the standards expected of any agricultural product in the mainstream economy.
In a press release, Tom Martinez, CEO of the California Exposition & State Fair, said this is precisely what the competition achieves.
“The California Cannabis Awards reflect the same spirit of excellence that defines the Fair itself, recognizing the skill, stewardship, and dedication contributing to California’s diverse agricultural landscape.”
By placing award-winning brands inside the California State Fair, where hundreds of thousands of adults can learn about, purchase, and consume cannabis legally, the CCA continues to model what responsible integration can look like.
Winning, or even placing, in a state-sanctioned, scientifically judged competition provides something beyond a medal. It offers validation in front of consumers, policymakers, and mainstream institutions.
“Five years ago, this level of acceptance within a state institution would have seemed aspirational,” said Lauren Carpenter, CEO of embarc. “Today, it’s a reality. This competition proves cannabis can be evaluated with measurable standards and celebrated responsibly.”
There’s also the fact that best-in-show, Golden Bear winners will have unique retail opportunities outside of Cal Expo, thanks to partner retailer embarc. The products will be sold at select embarc locations across the state during exclusive drops, and enjoy in-store marketing to highlight their achievements.
For operators, that exposure isn’t symbolic. It’s survival.
