California State Fair Underway with On-Site Cannabis Sales & Consumption

The California State Fair made history last week as the first U.S. state fair to allow on-site cannabis purchases and consumption. This year’s event — the 170th annual California State Fair — launched Friday, July 12, and will run through Sunday, July 28, at the 350-acre Cal Expo site near downtown Sacramento.

Access to the fair’s cannabis exhibition is restricted to attendees aged 21 and older. The exhibition includes a 30,000-square-foot pop-up consumption lounge where consumers can purchase and experience cannabis products from the California industry’s top growers and manufacturers. Available products include cannabis flower, concentrates, and infused beverages and edibles.

The move represents a significant extension of the cannabis activities and allowances accepted at the fair, which since 2022 has hosted a cannabis flower competition celebrating California growers.

Lauren Carpenter, CEO of Embarc — the company that has managed the State Fair’s Cannabis Awards since 2022 — told ABC10 the company had “worked really closely with regulators to ensure that this is a strictly controlled environment.”

“We have strict age controls, very tight security and a lot of infrastructure to ensure that those who want to purchase and consume, we are doing so far away from the rest of the fair and not visible for anyone under the age of 21.” — Carpenter, via ABC10

Last year’s California State Fair attracted more than a half-million attendees, about 590,000.