Oregon State Fair To Host Marijuana Exhibit: Just As It Does For Cattle And Pumpkins

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor.

We are now seeing the fruition of the campaign to normalize in society state legal marijuana. We’ve discussed previously how those on probation in Washington State no longer will face prosecution for marijuana usage, and where marijuana shops and billboard advertisements are seen alongside energy drinks and beach ready bodies. Now Oregon, having recently legalized marijuana, hosts at its State Fair exhibitions and competitions featuring legal weed. Let the Fairijuana begin!

 

At the Oregon State Fair, you can rope a steer or rope-a-doper. Win ribbons in one of dozens of events judged by our fair’s experts, including: flower arrangements; glass making; bowl carving; chocolate cookies; brownies; and of course the other, traditional marijuana-free displays. A new rodeo event this year is guaranteed to excite: After two joints, see how long these young-buck cowboys can sit on a sawhorse without falling off.

Shameless attempts at humor aside, the fairijuana event is sponsored by the Oregon Cannabis Business Council. Chairman Don Morse stated that nine plants will be featured in a translucent greenhouse, restricted to those twenty-one years of age and older. This is the first fair exhibit reportedly in the United States to feature live marijuana plants.

The plants shown will be immature plants having not advanced sufficiently to produce flowering buds. This is unfortunately not unexpected given the  bureaucratic morass of the state’s Liquor Control Commission’s rules prohibiting the transport of flowering plants. Thankfully, the state is not regulating rose bushes or other legal flowers. It’s not exactly a true state fair experience to see vases of stems and leaves. The commission expects however to finalize regulations and buds will be abound.

There will be judging among three cultivars of weed: sativa, indica, and hybrid categories and next year the fair expects to feature more events and booths.

Oregon’s state fair was not new to controversial shows and exhibits. Twenty years ago, the fair garnered considerable surprise to many when it featured a tattoo competition and exhibit.

Alas, the first true measure of the normalization of marijuana into Oregonian and Washingtonian societies will be when at state fairs, just as many people walk past the marijuana expositions as they presently do the flower, canned fruit, and brownie displays–rushing quickly as they must to catch the latest rodeo event, or the carnival rides. The only folks truly interested in such displays will be those old geezers and women who live on farms and like to win ribbons and trophies, except this time some will prefer tie-dyed shirts and dreadlocks.

By Darren Smith

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