Nothing says Americana like a state fair with its competitions of livestock, cakes, pies, crafts, wines, beers, cheeses, photography, fine art, corn dog eating and … weed?
Yes, the California State Fair, which just wrapped up its 2025 season in Sacramento, had all of the above, including The Cannabis Experience, a mini-village featuring educational displays detailing the history of cannabis, a shaded area for safe consumption (they check your I.D. at the entrance to prove you’re 21), a licensed dispensary where you can buy your own, a green — not red — carpet with a photographer taking pictures of the winners and a gala awards ceremony.
More than 600 brands submitted entries in the various categories and subcategories, including smokables, edibles, vape cartridges, sublinguals and so on. The bronze medal winner in the edible candies category was Lauren McNaughton, the brand manager of Kiva Confections in Oakland. Her medal-winning entry was a fruit chew called Strawberry Pink Jesus. So naturally I asked her, “What’s up with the name?
“It’s strawberry flavored,” she said, “and Pink Jesus is the cannabis strain it’s infused with. It has pink flowers. You can also taste subtle notes of citrus, cream, raspberries and lavender. Pairing them with strawberry created a nice balance of flavors.”
Pink Jesus is a sativa-hybrid grown by Sonoma Hills Farm and produced in collaboration with Lost Farm. The cannabis is sun-grown in Sonoma County, then processed into live resin that’s infused into the fruit chews at Kiva’s Oakland-based factory (kivaconfections.com/flavor/lf-strawberry-pink-jesus).
“No artificial dyes were used to create the pink color. Lost Farm uses fruit juices and powder for taste and color — strawberry syrup, tapioca syrup, sugar, water, palm oil, tart cherries and citric acid and, of course, the live resin. There’s special equipment for all this, but I can’t tell you (what it is). It’s a trade secret.”
The end result has the same texture as a Starburst: “Not super-chewy like a taffy but not a gummy either. They come individually wrapped in 10-milligram pieces. Just unwrap one, pop it in your mouth and enjoy.”
The climax of the competition came at the awards ceremony, a 90-minute celebration that started at precisely 4:20 in the afternoon.
“We were really happy with getting recognized in such a challenging competition. They had the winners displayed on 10-foot walls throughout the village and an area where we could pick up our medals and walk the green carpet.”
Then it was celebration time with her colleagues and family. “This was our Oscar night. There’s another competition in San Diego, but this was the big one”
OAS update: In other news, there’s a hopeful new development in the crisis I wrote about in my last column, about Oakland Animal Services (OAS), the city’s animal shelter, getting a green light from the Oakland City Council to turn away people who want to drop off rescued animals or pets they no longer can take care of.
The hero of this story is Ann Dunn, a former OAS executive director who retired last year because of sheer exhaustion. That retirement didn’t last long because she is now head of the Friends of Oakland Animal Shelter (FOAS) support group and just signed an agreement with OAS in which FOAS will fund a new OAS staffer to be the point of contact for any Oakland resident who may need to surrender a pet or rescued animal.
This new program’s goals are to offer practical support to help people keep their pets whenever possible; to rehome their pets without having to come to the shelter; to leverage the OAS Transfer Program (also funded by FOAS) to get surrendered pets directly to local rescue groups and other OAS partners without the poor critters having to spend time in the shelter; and to triage the animals in urgent situations to ensure that OAS can help those most in need first.
It’s only a beginning, of course, but it’s an important step toward the more robust infrastructure that Oakland’s animals deserve. When Dunn left OAS last year I wrote, “Alas, she has decided to resign from this backbreaking job, but I don’t think she’ll ever retire from saving animals.” Looks like I was right. Welcome back, Ann.
If you’d like to help this lifesaving effort, you can contribute to FOAS online at friendsofoas.org/ways-to-give.
Martin Snapp can be reached at catman442@comcast.net.