The Cowboy Cup Cannabis Championship, which is being held in Stillwater on Friday and Saturday, spawned from a moment in organizer Daniel Lewis’ life that epitomized what legalizing marijuana in Oklahoma could mean.
It was 2016, and a thick layer of smoke from thousands of joints and bowls accumulated just as the sun began to sink behind the roofline from a center of live music stages and food trucks.
This was hemp heaven.
Lewis, an Oklahoma native, worked with a friend in northern California to help set up the 13th Annual Emerald Cup, the original cannabis championship of the United States.
That year’s festival was special because it was the first after California’s legalization of recreational cannabis, which would soon usher in a multibillion-dollar industry estimated to be the largest legal market in the world.
“I was so impressed with everything that was going on and really enjoyed the time,” Lewis said. “I told people then that if Oklahoma ever (legalized marijuana) that I wanted to throw a cannabis championship.”
Little did Lewis know he would get that opportunity two years later.
Oklahoma State Question 788 legalized medicinal marijuana in 2018 with more than 500,000 ‘Yes’ votes.
Lewis soon went to work.
“We started plans for 2019 that came from being at the Emerald Cup and building on it,” Lewis said. “We went from one tent and probably 20 to 30 vendors to seven tents and 100 vendors this weekend.”
Any legal adult is welcome to enjoy live music, seminars, games, food trucks and more at the Tumbleweed Dance Hall and Concert Arena, starting at 11 a.m. each day.
“The event is basically built around the awards ceremony that happens each evening,” Lewis said. “Processors and growers from across the state enter their product to be judged in our competition. Anybody has a chance to win it.”
Judges picked the contest’s samples up at the beginning of October and had two months to test them. Samples included flowers, edibles and concentrates.
The judges rate the cannabis in 23 different categories such as appearance, aroma and flavor.
First-place winners will receive solid sterling belt buckles. Second and third place will get spurs and bolo ties, respectively.
Lewis said the competition provides insight into what consumers are looking for in their medical cannabis, and the winners will gain higher brand recognition.
Cowboy Cup started with one man’s vision, and it has since quadrupled in size. It has gotten so big that it has afforded Lewis the luxury of focusing on it full-time since 2020.
Oklahoma’s legalization of medicinal marijuana made Cowboy Cup possible. Statewide recreational legalization would cause it to explode on the national scene.
Lewis something even grander could be on the horizon.
“We’re waiting for federal legalization,” Lewis said. “Right now the borders are closed, so we can’t accept entries from out-of-state companies, but the dream would be for it to be the biggest cannabis championship in the nation, and I think we’re well on our way.”
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