Get high (legally) at the massive new weed oasis inside the California State Fair [View all]

For the first time in the 170-year history of the California State Fair, which is scheduled to open July 12 in Sacramento, visitors will be able to do something they haven’t been able to do there before — legally anyway. They will be able to purchase and consume cannabis on-site.

The plans, announced Tuesday by Embarc, the fair’s partner on the project, include having a dispensary and 30,000-square-foot outdoor consumption lounge space at Cal Expo that will allow fair-goers who are 21 and older (and in possession of a valid government-issued photo ID) to buy and try award-winning cannabis.

“When people come to the state fair, they can try the best wine, cheese and craft-brewed beer. That’s already in place,” California State Fair Chief Executive Tom Martinez told The Times. “This was just the natural next step that the legislature and our board of directors is taking.”

The first step came in 2022 when a cannabis exhibit and awards program were added to the fair lineup. It was a chance to showcase the once-demonized plant alongside the rest of the state’s agricultural bounty. “Over the last two years, we’ve had 160,000 people come through that educational exhibit,” Martinez said.

This time around, visitors to the exhibit hall filled with cannabis educational and farm displays will be able to scan QR codes next to displays of this year’s California State Fair Cannabis Award winners and add the goods to an online shopping cart. Then items can be purchased at the checkout at a dispensary just outside. Those who wish to partake can then navigate a few hundred feet farther away and get their smoke on.

https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2024-06-18/buy-weed-at-california-state-fair-to-smoke-at-consumption-lounge