News & Blog

‘Oversight’ leads to pot plant on display at State Fair

By Kai Porter / KOB 4

Published on September 9, 2016

The state’s largest medical marijuana distributor, Ultra Health, was kicked out of the state fair after it set up a booth it thought fair officials had approved.

The booth contained a three week old female medical cannabis plant, named Dorothy, which was on display for fairgoers.

“To be able to display the plant and bring down some of the stigma associated with cannabis,” said Leonard Salgado, Ultra Health’s vice president for business development. “That was our goal.”

Salgado said Ultra Health it told the fair about Dorothy it in its application for the booth, which was approved.

“We informed them and sent them a picture of what the display was going to contain including the plant,” he said.

But on the first day of the State Fair, officials told them to take the booth down and leave the fair grounds.

“Someone within the fair organization decided that there must have been some miscommunication and they advised us that we needed to remove the plant and really remove any type of brochure or literature that had the cannabis leaf symbol,” said Salgado.

The state fair says it was an oversight on its part because a manager didn’t see an email from the company which said the plant would be part of the display.

Salgado says he has no hard feelings.

“It was disappointing to have to leave on the first day of the fair,” he said.

The State Fair will refund the money Ultra Health paid for the booth.