California State Fair Cannabis Awards (California Cannabis Awards)
A cannabis contest that found a place at the long-running California State Fair, next to its baking and canning competitions.
- 571results on record
- 2022–2026years in our data
- 5editions
- 363matched to strains
- California Cannabis Experience during the California State Fairlatest location
01Beginnings: a plant joins the fair
The California State Fair in Sacramento is a very old institution. One law-firm blog put its age at 170 years in 2024, and GreenState called it 171 in 2025. In 2022 the fair added something new: an exhibit and awards program devoted to cannabis1. GreenState goes further and calls it the first state-sanctioned cannabis competition in the country. It makes that claim in a July 14, 2025 article that dates the launch to about four years earlier2. Only one outlet makes the claim, so read it as that outlet's description.
The pitch was familiar. The awards were framed as the cannabis version of the fair's canning and baking contests, with growers and makers competing for recognition the way jam-makers do1. According to GreenState, Embarc held the competition license. Its co-founder Dustin Moore compared the honor to the way the fair recognizes wine, cheese, olive oil and craft beer2. The sources call the event by different names, including the California Cannabis Awards, and they do not explain how those names relate.
02The story: from displays to a full site
By 2024 the fair had added on-site cannabis sales for visitors 21 and older. Shoppers scanned QR codes placed beside award-winning products to fill an online cart, then paid at a dispensary just outside the exhibit hall1. An outdoor lounge called the Oasis sat a short walk away and offered a break from the Sacramento heat1. The 2024 awards covered sun-grown, mixed-light and indoor flower, plus edibles, pre-rolls and concentrates, so finished products competed as well as raw flower1. The Golden Bear ceremony was set for July 27, 2024, and the post compared it to Oscar night1.
By 2025 the cannabis presence had grown into a combined exhibit, consumption space and dispensary of about 50,000 square feet. It stood where the old Cal Expo waterpark used to be, and Embarc and Fair Play Ventures built it2. GreenState reports more than 600 entries, its largest field so far, with nine categories, many sub-categories and over 50 recipients2. Judging has two tiers. SC Lab tests all flower to decide the medalists, and Budist critics judge every product, top flower included2.
One caution: the sources do not settle how editions are numbered or exactly when they took place. GreenState's 2025 recap gives a date that does not fit the fair's usual July timing, so that date is not treated as reliable here2.
03Culture: stigma, crops and community
The people quoted describe the event as more than a trophy hunt. Embarc co-founder Lauren Carpenter, speaking for the fair's partner, called cannabis sales and consumption at the fair a step toward destigmatization and a way to bring consumers closer to farmers1. Dustin Moore, also an Embarc co-founder, said cannabis is California's largest crop by cash value and that the state fair's willingness to sponsor it matters2. GreenState presented the 2025 gathering as a close-knit community turning out despite problems facing the industry, such as raids and excise taxes2.
The 2025 ceremony had its human moments. Jack Herer received a Lifetime Achievement award after his death. Aundre Speciale introduced it and his son, Dan Herer, accepted it2. Wild Leaf Farms won the GreenState Consumers' Choice Award2. GreenState described Emerald Spirit Botanicals as a Golden Bear winner in sun-grown flower for two years running, with Joseph Haggard on stage2. Some Golden Bear entries were collaborations. One concentrates winner came from four businesses together: Ay Papi, Mattole Valley Sungrown, Canyon Creek Family Farms and My Green Network2. This page does not list every winner.
04Now: the latest documented edition
The most recent edition in the sources is the 2025 California Cannabis Awards, which GreenState covered on July 14, 20252. No 2026 edition appears in the material used for this page, so this page cannot say whether one has run or when.
One keepsake from 2025 is on record. A commemorative capsule of the Golden Bear winners was sold at the Embarc location on the fairgrounds. From the Friday after the article, it was also sold at every Embarc location2. For current entry rules, dates or results, check the fair's own announcements. The sources here are a few articles, not an official record.
05Future: no announced plans found
The sources used for this page contain no announced plans or outlook for future editions. The only remark about the future is a guess from Harris Sliwoski, which wondered whether cannabis could become a fixture of the fair, the way deep-fried treats have1. That is speculation, not an announcement. Future dates, categories and formats are not documented here.
The results, in our data
CannaLib holds 571 results from this cup across 5 years (2022 to 2026), 363 of them matched to a strain in the catalogue.
Editions on record
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024
- 2025 · California Cannabis Experience, California State Fair, Sacramento
- 2026 · California Cannabis Experience during the California State Fair
Sources
- Breaking New Ground: Cannabis at the 2024 California State Fair | Harris Sliwoski LLP
- California Cannabis Awards shines a bright light in dark times | GreenState
Written from the sources above and checked on 2026-10-29. Spot an error? Tell us on the contact page.