Prize-winning cannabis plants will be on display at the 2016 Oregon State Fair. Pictured: Medical marijuana grower Cedar Grey examines a flowering plant in his garden in Williams, Ore., on June 25, 2015. (Jeff Barnard, Associated Press file)

Pot plants on parade: Special exhibit on tap for 2016 Oregon State Fair

PORTLAND, Ore. — A new crop will be featured at the Oregon State Fair this year: marijuana.

The Oregonian/Oregon Live reports that the fair awards prizes for the curviest vegetable or the most misshapen fruit. This year, marijuana plants will also be on display — and will be judged by a panel of growers before the fair.

The Oregon Cannabis Business Council is sponsoring the exhibit. Chairman Don Morse says nine plants will be displayed in a greenhouse and monitored by a security guard.

Only people age 21 and older will be allowed inside the cannabis exhibit at the fair, which runs Aug. 26 through Sept. 5.

Fair spokesman Dan Cox says the exhibit is a nod to the newly legal status of cannabis. Morse says, however, that those hoping for a sample will be disappointed.

This isn’t the first time weed had a special place at a fair. In Colorado’s first year of recreational sales, the 2014 Denver County Fair had a “Pot Pavilion,” although no actual cannabis was allowed on the grounds. The fair featured a joint-rolling contest using oregano and offered prizes for homemade edibles that were judged off-site.

It was a one-time affair, though, after a lawsuit was filed by some attendees who claimed they were sickened because a booth vendor handed out chocolate samples that contained THC when they were supposed to be weed-free; the lawsuit was settled around the time fair organizers said the marijuana exhibit would not return for 2015.

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Cannabist staff contributed to this report.

Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Denver County Fair 2015: Pot Pavilion canceled following lawsuit
Visitors walk through the Pot Pavilion at the Denver County Fair on Friday Aug. 1, 2014. (Brennan Linsley, The Associated Press)