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7. The Joint Rolling Contests
By Carmen Lodise
Between 1976 and 1981, each Isla Vista Fall and Spring Festival featured a Joint Rolling Contest. I was the Master of Ceremonies, but only because I organized the event.
Actually, the event featured three contests. One was for best
("The Most Primo") joint, a second for the biggest joint
(with a two-paper limit), and the third for the fastest joint
roller.
The fastest contest required several heats with six rollers in
each heat. The winner of each heat would then enter a run-off
contest to determine the overall winner. For some reason, women
usually won this contest.
Fantastic Prizes
Prizes were awarded to the three winners: usually a fine bong,
or maybe an antler pipe, a poster, etc. The prizes were always
donated by Bamboo Brothers, a great head shop located at the  corner
of Pardall and Embarcadero del Mar. The actual winning joints
were posted on a plaque at Bamboo Brothers until the next contest:
this greatly increased the prestige of the winners.
As the M.C., I also got to select the judges. There were always three judges, the odd number being necessary to break ties, especially in the Most Primo Joint category. As you can imagine, this was a very difficult judgment to make!
Celebrity Judges
Actually, who the judges were was one of the biggest hits of the
event. I usually chose people who were running for office, often
candidates for Municipal or Superior Court Judge--how better to
test their qualifications to be a judge! Jim Slater and his opponent
for Municipal Court Judge, Alice Merenbach, plus Floyd Dodson,
a sitting Superior Court Judge running for re-election, were the
first three celebrity judges.
A picture of Slater being a contest judge was published in the
UCSB Daily NEXUS; he won his election largely because of the 90%
of the votes he received in I.V. But, a picture of Dodson as a
contest judge appeared on the front page of the Santa Barbara
NEWS-PRESS; he became the first Superior Court Judge in California
history to fail to be re-elected.
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