A FLURRY OF VISUALS EASILY COMES TO MIND WHEN THINKING ABOUT CALI ROOTS. But perhaps chief among them is the infamous mega doobie, often seen floating above a sea of people dancing in a skunky haze to the backdrop of reggae music.

Needless to say, cannabis culture is built into the DNA of the three-day festival at the Monterey County Fair & Event Center. So when it comes to selecting the marijuana products offered, vendors and festival curators know they’re working with customers who are more advanced than the typical user.

“What you really see is folks who want to understand how it was cultivated – more so than you’d see even in a dispensary,” says Dustin Moore, co-founder of Embarc, a dispensary chain. “They want to understand the strain, the terpenes, the flavonoids – they kind of want to geek out.”

To break it down: terpenes are the aromatic compounds found in cannabis flowers – think woody, spicy, citrusy. Each scent and flavor profile corresponds to specific compounds, such as Limonene or Myrcene. Flavonoids contribute to the plant’s color, and the strain refers to the overall variety of the plant, such as indica, sativa, Purple Kush or Blue Dream.

“The original Blue Dream is a strain that goes way back,” says Moore, noting it’s been around for 30 to 40 years and was once incredibly popular. “In the early 2010s it just disappeared off the face of the Earth. But this group called Humboldt Family Farms – one of the farmers had the seeds, and that product is going to be sold at Cali Roots. It’s something I’m so excited about because it’s one of my favorite strains.”

Though the cannabis-loving culture has been part of the event since its inception over a decade ago, 2024 was the first year attendees could legally purchase cannabis at the festival. Getting legal sales approved took about three years of working with the Monterey City Council and staff; but it paid off, with Cali Roots successfully launching cannabis sales even before the city’s first dispensary, Off the Charts, which opened in January of this year.

Good Vibez Presents – the company run by Cali Roots’ producers Amy and Dan Sheehan – worked with Embarc to debut a dedicated cannabis marketplace called The Smoke Show. It was a central, one-of-a-kind activation which turned part of the festival space into an open-air cannabis lounge, where festival-goers 21 and over could go and shop a curated menu of products.

Embarc, one of California’s fastest-growing cannabis retailers with 16 dispensaries and nearly a dozen more in development, has helped to not only get cannabis in the festival space, but to fine-tune the curation of The Smoke Show, which will return this year. The goal, Moore says, is to create a space which feels seamlessly integrated into the festival, where people can easily come and go, explore specialty products and get back to seeing the bands they want to see with ease.

“Last year, we brought glass blowers. They were blowing glass pipes on site that you could purchase,” says Moore, adding that they plan to bring that back this year where attendees can purchase fun, ancillary products along with cannabis if they choose.

A year ago, Embarc also debuted a custom hash hole – an infused, larger format pre-roll that was Cali Roots-branded. “That thing flew off the shelves,” he says.

Other items that people are interested in buying include organic and sun-grown products, as well as loose or jarred flower.

The event is positioned to create opportunities for local and smaller producers, as well as helping to uplift companies that have endured the difficult path of legalization – a process Moore believes should be rewarded and destigmatized.

“This is about how you normalize cannabis in a responsible way,” Moore says. “People [have been] really supportive. It’s the perfect venue.”