Harvest Cup
A Worcester convention hall, a contest judged blind, and a giant joint handed out in 1-foot pieces: the first Harvest Cup, December 2017.
- 251results on record
- 2017–2025years in our data
- 9editions
- 73matched to strains
- DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USAlatest location
01How it began
The Harvest Cup made its debut in Worcester, Massachusetts, on the weekend of 16 to 17 December 2017, at the DCU Center. The Boston Globe called it the first-ever Harvest Cup and described it as a friendly but competitive contest among home growers of cannabis1. The Globe's report is dated 16 December 2017, and the final announcements were due on Sunday, 17 December 20171.
The event was organized by the Massachusetts Growers Advocacy Council, a nonprofit whose president and director, Peter Bernard, was quoted in the coverage1. Timing played a part: the weekend fell in the same week that state regulators started drafting rules for recreational sales, which were then scheduled to begin in July 20181. Why the organizers chose to launch a contest at that moment, beyond what the article reports, is not documented in the sources we have.
02The contest
Over the fall of 2017, more than 50 home growers sent in 73 samples1. To keep things fair, the organizers used a blind drop-box setup that kept each grower's identity from the 21 judges1. Entries were scored from zero to 10 on six criteria: aroma, taste, ash, cure, effect and appearance1.
Prizes came in stages. Awards for edibles and concentrates were handed out on Saturday, 16 December 2017, while the best flower prize, described as the premier category, and an overall winner were left for Sunday, 17 December 20171. Bernard said the judges had reached a unanimous verdict1.
An attempt to get a Guinness World Record went nowhere: the records organization is based in the UK, where cannabis is illegal, and it declined to take part1.
03On the show floor
Beyond the judging table, the hall worked as a trade show. Exhibitors displayed glassware, trimming machines, devices for making cannabis edibles, grow lights and other cultivation equipment1. Not everyone there was a consumer: some attendees said they do not use cannabis at all1.
A giant joint drew attention. Beantown Greentown put it together over about 100 hours, and it held 2 pounds of cannabis1. It was revealed at 4:20 p.m., a nod to a long-standing cannabis-culture tradition1, and 1-foot sections went to attendees who posted about it on social media1.
Bernard presented the event as somewhere people could safely be open about cannabis1. Attendees also argued over policy and what it would mean for the small-scale growers the Globe placed at the centre of the Harvest Cup1.
04Where things stand
The current status of the Harvest Cup is not documented here. The only usable source is the Boston Globe report dated 16 December 2017, which covers the first edition1. A Ganjapreneur page that might have said more returned a 'page not found' error, so it adds nothing about later editions2. Whether the event returned in later years, changed format or ended is not documented in our sources, and we would rather say so than guess.
05What comes next
No announced plans for future Harvest Cups were found in the sources. The only forward-looking item in them concerns an exhibitor rather than the event: in December 2017, Beantown Greentown was preparing to enter the recreational market as a licensed cultivator1. That is about one company's plans, not the contest, which remains undocumented beyond its first edition.
The results, in our data
CannaLib holds 251 results from this cup across 9 years (2017 to 2025), 73 of them matched to a strain in the catalogue.
Recent first-place strains
| Year | Strain | Category | Entrant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Raspberry Mango Tk | Limonene | Tower Three |
| 2025 | Red Taffy | Myrcene | Breathe Free |
| 2025 | Caribbean Breeze | Caryophyllene/Limonene | Lazy River |
| 2025 | Dante S Inferno | Caryophyllene/Other | Coastal Healing |
| 2025 | Trop Cherry | Linalool | Atlas Buds |
| 2025 | Cannabutter | Syrups / Sauces / Condiments | Sweetgrass Botanicals |
| 2024 | Drooler | (Limonene/Myrcene dominant) | Cheech & Chong |
| 2024 | Zlushy | Shaka with Cadillac Rainbows | Shaka |
| 2024 | Blue Lobster | (Myrcene/Limonene dominant) | Burlington Kush Factory |
| 2024 | Melonball Z | (Myrcene/Caryophyllene dominant) | Breath Free |
| 2024 | Tangieland | (Caryophyllene/Myrcene dominant) | Gardens by GILF |
| 2024 | Monty Gluethon | (Caryophyllene/Limonene dominant) | Dank Flow Genetics |
| 2024 | Spritzer | Terpinolene/Linalool Dominant | Good Life Gardens |
| 2024 | Space Dog | Syrups / Sauces / Condiments | Saucehound BBQ |
Editions on record
- 2017 · DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (16-17 Dec 2017)
- 2018 · DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (15-16 Dec 2018)
- 2019 · DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
- 2020 · DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
- 2021 · DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (November 2021)
- 2022 · DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (12-13 Nov 2022)
- 2023 · DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
- 2024 · DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (9-10 Nov 2024)
- 2025 · DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Sources
- Pot growers, enthusiasts gather in Worcester for first-ever Harvest Cup - The Boston Globe, 16 December 2017
- Sorry, we can't find that page. - Ganjapreneur (broken link, no content)
Written from the sources above and checked on 2026-10-29. Spot an error? Tell us on the contact page.