The 2026 Mendo Cup is accepting entry applications from local farmers now through April 8th. The Mendo Cup awards presentation and celebration will be held on Sunday, May 3rd, 2026, at the Willits Grange and will be open to the public (21+). The entry date is right around the corner, tickets to attend are in limited supply and selling fast, and ground-level sponsorship opportunities are filling up. In this article, you will find more information about all of that, and more, as we count down the days until The Mendo Cup.
One refreshing highlight from the California cannabis market in 2025 was the grassroots success of The Mendo Cup, which took place last May at the Willits Grange in Willits, California.
Part friendly competition, part homespun celebration, the inaugural Mendo Cup convinced nearly three dozen of the region’s licensed, sungrown cannabis farmers to bring their best to the table for an anonymous smoke-off with one goal – May the best weed win.
At any event and in any competition, the cannabis is the star of the show (or, at least, it ought to be), but The Mendo Cup felt like such a breath of fresh air because, finally, it felt like a return to the good ol’ days in Mendocino and The Emerald Triangle, when dedicated farmers and trusted friends could compare Ball jars of their best buds, smoking, laughing, and honoring the plant, the local land, and one another as stewards of both.
Last year’s event was founded and produced by Nikki Lastreto and Swami Chaitanya, of Swami Select. Having let their California cannabis license go dormant, they were not eligible as competitors, but as 20-year judges of The Emerald Cup, they felt they had a pretty good idea of what the community craved from a cannabis event, and what farmers expected from a fair competition.
With a ragtag team of volunteers, the 2025 Mendo Cup was a resounding success, with five Mendocino farms taking home the top awards. This year, Lastreto and Chaitanya have taken a step back and have passed the torch to the next generation of cannabis advocates and organizers. The 2026 Mendo Cup is being produced by Leah Cerri, who has assembled an all-star team of volunteers to attempt to do what every weed brand in the world is trying to do: Convince people to come back for more.
Here’s how it’s gonna go down.
The 2026 Mendo Cup Puts Peer Pressure to Good Use, Uplifting Farmers and the Region They Call Home
Though at its roots, The Mendo Cup may seem intertwined with the long-running Emerald Cup, and may even resemble its early days, the two events really could not be more different. The core mission of The Mendo Cup is to shine a light on the amazing, sungrown, regenerative plants being grown in the county, and to give the farmers who bring those plants to harvest and market a boost in visibility and, hopefully, opportunity.
To enter The Mendo Cup, farmers must meet the following criteria and apply before the deadline of April 8th:
- Their farm must be located in Mendocino County
- Their farm must have a current California cultivation license
- Their farm must be 10,000 square feet or less of canopy
- Their farm must utilize regenerative practices and produce full-term, full-sun flower
Whereas The Emerald Cup was asking for 4 full ounces of market-ready, lab-tested flower, plus $300-400 per entry, The Mendo Cup entry fee is just $50, along with one ounce of flower. Mendo Cup competitors are also asked to provide one picture-perfect bud and a branded jar for display. Licensed sungrown farmers in The Emerald Triangle (and beyond) are being hammered by overregulation and overtaxation as it is, and the team at The Mendo Cup recognizes that and has worked hard to minimize the barrier of entry.
We have seen comments and complaints from Mendocino’s mixed light or greenhouse growers, or local unlicensed homegrowers, or farms and growers from Humboldt, or Trinity County, asking why they cannot enter The Mendo Cup. Well, cuz dems da rules, folks!
The low-overhead, volunteer/community-driven effort behind the humble presentation of The Mendo Cup should serve as plenty of motivation for those communities and those sectors of the culture to rise up and produce similar events that cater to those counties or niches. Homegrowers deserve it! Humboldt deserves it! Who will step up and do it?
Another concept where past events have fallen short is the promotion of the winning brands and farms once the event is over and the money is in the bank. California is fucking enormous, and the supply chain put in place through Prop 64 is counterintuitive and counterproductive to the sustainability mindset that many Mendo farmers operate under. With wholesale prices at rock bottom, the time/effort/resources it takes to cover the state with your marketing, hoping to slang some of your weed, is the unsustainable trap that has cost many brands their place in the market.
First, The Mendo Cup shares ALL PROFIT (funds leftover after overhead costs) with every farmer who enters the competition. It might be a few bucks, it might be a few benjis, it might be a few racks, but whatever it is, it goes to the farmers, not to annual salaries for folks who put on one event a year. “Sharing Profits With Farmers” isn’t just a tagline; it is a mission statement.
Second, The Mendo Cup volunteer team is working, as we type and as you read, to secure retail dispensary partnerships with shops from Crescent City to San Diego. All they ask from these retail partners is to carry the cultivars from the farms that win the Top 5 in The Mendo Cup, and at least consider carrying flower from everyone who entered.
The Mendo Cup is a Celebration of Mendocino Cannabis Culture
The Mendo Cup competition will be underway once all entries are received at the end of March. The official Mendo Cup Judges will be given ample time to sample the entries, each of which will be in an unmarked and anonymous glass jar. Once their notes and votes are compiled, the world will wait to see who takes home the top prizes on May 3rd, 2026.
On Sunday, May 3rd, the Willits Grange will once again be the backdrop for The Mendo Cup Awards & Celebration. Tickets to attend are on sale now, and there are not many to spare. So, make it a weekend in Willits and spend your Sunday soaking up Mendocino community and culture at The Mendo Cup. As with entering the competition, tickets to get into The Mendo Cup are super affordable. We encourage you to pop for the $42 option, since the extra funds go directly into that pool of cash that goes back to the farmers. There will be NO TICKET SALES AT THE DOOR, so lock yours in today to get into the party in May.
Sponsors should also be hitting up The Mendo Cup like…now… as the authenticity that this event exudes is priceless when it comes to brand affiliation. Again, the funds they bring in from this stream work directly to benefit the region’s sungrown licensed farmers. If your brand is trying to reach them, it makes sense to support them!
The Mendo Cup will hand out awards for the top five flower entries, as voted by the judges. There is one additional prize for Best Breeder. Here are the winners from the 2025 Mendo Cup–how many have you smoked?
1st Place: Sweet Sisters Family Farm, Biscotti
2nd Place: Sticky Fields, King’s Poison
3rd Place: Mendocino Family Farm, Modified Lemonhead
4th Place: Martyjuana, Supreme Gelato
5th Place: Emerald Spirit Botanicals, Royal Blueberry
Best Breeder: Jesse Robertson, Sticky Fields, King’s Poison
Who will win in 2026? The best sungrown cannabis in Mendocino, that’s who!
For more information about entering, attending, or sponsoring The Mendo Cup, you can visit https://www.themendocup.org
