Oregon State Fair – Marijuana Crop

The Oregon State Fair will be hosting a marijuana plant competition. Oregon’s marijuana crops will be on display during the fair from August 26th to September 5th. Things like vegetables and animals are usually judged at state fairs with points being awarded to the biggest or funniest shaped vegetable. This year judges may have to decide with more than their eyes when selecting the dankest nugs. Since this is the first time cannabis will be judged at a state fair we don’t even know what the judges will be looking for. Will they award ribbons for the tallest plant? The dankest plant? Or the one with the biggest nugs?

Will judges be smoking the plants?

Anyone hoping to sample Oregon’s finest cannabis crops will be disappointed because the plant will not be available in its smokeable form. To smoke a cannabis plant the nugs would need to be snipped then cured, but only full plants will be on display at the event. According to one of the sponsors “we are not promoting the use of cannabis,” he said. Their goal is to show “people over 21 what award-winning marijuana plants look like.”

Why introduce marijuana to the state fair?

The chairperson of The Oregon Business Council, Dan Morse, says that the move to add marijuana as a new crop to the fair was because of the plants newly legal status in Oregon. The Oregon Business Council is sponsoring the marijuana exhibit, and Dan Morse claims that nine plants will be on display in a greenhouse on state fair grounds. The area will be monitored by security and only those with ID proving they are over the age of 21 will be allowed into the greenhouse.

Dan Cox, the spokesperson of the Oregon State Fair, says that the fairs decision to allow marijuana as a featured crop is an indication of the “direction that the entire state is moving” towards. Marijuana is becoming more acceptable, and its cultivation has increased in popularity in Oregon since the state decided to legalize cannabis.

Will there be a green ribbon for the best pot plant?

The awards for the top three cannabis plants will not be customized. The customary blue-ribbon will be awarded to the first place cannabis plant. There will be a blue, purple, and yellow ribbon awarded to the top three plants. Dan Morse says they are attempting to celebrate cannabis as a farm crop from Oregon, and that’s why it’s being treated no differently from the fair’s giant pumpkins. Except for the fact that you need to be 21 to view the award-winning cannabis crops.

The Final Hit

While the Oregon State Fair’s marijuana exhibition isn’t exactly the first of it’s kind. Denver’s county fair had a “Pot Pavilion” which did not have any actual cannabis plants present. Instead, guests participated in events like joint-rolling contests using oregano. However, the Denver county fair’s “Pot Pavilion” was permanently cancelled after guests reported getting sick from chocolate bars that were given out that apparently secretly contained THC. With just full plants for observation and judging the Oregon State Fair should avoid any similar tragedies and be back around the same time next year.