When you think of the state fair, you probably think of fair food – like corn dogs and elephant ears – rides that are both entertaining and terrifying, as well as more traditional things like prize-winning crops and farm animals. This year, alongside favorites such as the “curviest vegetable” and the “most misshapen fruit” there will also be prize-winning marijuana plants being featured for the first time as a part of the Oregon State Fair.
The plants will be judged on August 13th and 14th at the Oregon Cannabis Growers Fair. The plants will be given 4H style awards; a blue ribbon for 1st place, followed by purple and yellow. In total there will be nine plants chosen during the Cannabis Growers Fair that will make it to the display featured at the State Fair. This is the first marijuana plant contest of this sort – and also the first plants to be featured as an agricultural crop at any state fair.
“This is really a reflection of where Oregon is now as a state,” said Dan Cox, spokesman for the fair.
Once on display, the plants will be kept in a greenhouse with its own separate entrance and exits and they will only be viewable by adults 21 years or older. Of course, this being the first display of its kind there will be security watching the display throughout the entire fair to ensure nothing goes wrong. Anyone hoping to get a sample from a prize-winning plant will be disappointed as there will be no sale or consumption involved.
“This is our attempt to introduce the cannabis plant to the rest of the state as Oregon’s newest agricultural farm crop,” Morse said.
The idea here is to bring cannabis more into the mainstream, remembering that it is the state’s newest cash crop and it deserves to be treated like any other agricultural crop. Giving the marijuana plants a place at the fair will give adults who want to know more about the plants a chance to see them up close. The plants will be on display throughout the fair, from August 26th to September 5th, so if you will find yourself near Oregon during this time, you should stop in to see what a top tier marijuana plant looks like.
