Since 1853, North Carolinians have come together to celebrate the Old North State’s accomplishments, history, exports and people. Excluding a few gaps throughout the years, mostly due to war, the North Carolina State Fair has consistently brought joy and camaraderie to North Carolina residents and nonresidents alike, a tradition that has thankfully been maintained by this year’s 150th State Fair.
For those who have not yet made it out to the NC State Fairgrounds, know that you have until this Sunday to experience all things State Fair. Be sure to grab a map, because you’ll need it to navigate the many different aspects of the annual event, only a few of which we can cover here.
Agriculture
A somehow often forgotten aspect of the State Fair, the agricultural showcases present throughout the day should not be ignored. Attendees can, and should, check out the blue ribbon-winning vegetables and livestock presented for public viewing. Making time to stop by the agriculture section of the fair provides guests the chance to see everything from the fastest pig in the racing pig circuit to the hottest peppers grown in North Carolina. A must-see is the winner of the Great Pumpkin/Watermelon Weigh-off. This year’s biggest pumpkin weighed in at a whopping 1,458.5 pounds!
The influence of NC State is apparent here as students uphold the college’s historic status as an agriculture school. Jonathan Styers, a third-year studying animal science, works at the Jim Graham building at the fair for the NC State Beef Education Unit, one of several NC State groups present. Styers is one of several students working to keep cows show-ready for the fair.
“I love it,” Styers said. “I love being around animals. I want go to vet school so getting my animal fix is awesome. [The Animal Science Club] brought six steer to show and four heifers to show, and the Beef Education Unit brought two bulls to show.”
Styers said that there is always someone on site watching the cows 24/7 throughout the duration of the fair.
“We do basically the same thing we do while they [cows] are on our farm,” Styers said. “We wash them every day here, feed them twice a day, clean up after them and make sure they are in a clean and healthy environment. If I had to pick an animal to be, it would be a show cow. They get feed and water in front of them at all times.”
Food
One of the most popular attractions every year, State Fair food is in a category all its own. There is more food, drink and dessert available at the fair than can be mentioned here: alligator, apple cider, bacon on a stick, boiled peanuts, burgers, candy apples, cheese, Cheerwine funnel cake, deep fried anything, dirty rice, elephant ears, fries, frog legs, gator tails, hot dogs, ice cream, jerk chicken, Klondike bars (what would you do for a fried one?), lemonade, mac and cheese, nachos, onions (blooming), pizza, pumpkin pie, quiche, ribs, sausages, shrimp, turkey legs, Utz pretzels, vinegar barbeque, watermelon, X-tra large everything, yard-long corn dogs and zucchini chips.
Monica Creath works at McBride’s Concessions, one of the bigger food vendors at the fair. Creath gave an estimate on just how much a vendor like McBride’s, which specializes in turkey legs, sells.
“In a weekend, I’d say probably 30 to 40 [turkey legs] in an hour,” Creath said. “It’s so busy.”
Creath works from 9 a.m. to midnight serving turkey legs, ribs and roasted corn to fairgoers. Creath said her favorite parts of the fair are the people and the smells.
“I stink though,” Creath said. “When I leave, I smell like smoke.”
Dessert
Another popular fair food attraction is the NC State dessert Howling Cow ice cream. The frozen treat is sold at the fair in a cup or a cone by NC State students.
“This is my fourth year scooping at the Dairy Bar,” said Micaela Hayes, a graduate student studying food science and an ice cream scooper at the Howling Cow State Fair tent. “Most everyone who works dairy bar is a part of the Food Science Club. We also have some food science students or nutrition students or professors who are involved as well.”
This year marks the return of a fan favorite Howling Cow flavor, caramel apple crisp, which is returning after its debut last fair.
“It was very popular last year, and we ran out almost every day, so we decided to bring [the flavor] back,” Hayes said.
In addition to the limited time flavor, mainstays like vanilla, cookies & cream and chocolate chip mint are also available. Hayes said that Wolf Tracks is definitely the most popular flavor for fair attendees. On Tuesday when Hayes was interviewed, the tent had already sold out of their daily supply of the caramel and fudge-based flavor by 6 p.m. that day. To serve up as much ice cream as they do, the students working the Dairy Bar have developed a system to ensure that they serve the dessert as quickly as possible.
“We’ve developed a system that works really well,” Haynes said. “We have a caller — one or two depending on the time of day — who has a code name for the kind of ice cream. They say ‘cup of this,’ or ‘cone of that’ and then we have scoopers that have to yell ‘got it!’ Once you do that, you scoop the ice cream and you serve it.”
And Now, Drink!
If ice cream is not your thing, a new treat is available at the State Fair this year for the first time ever, as long as you are 21 or older, that is.
At the Our State Public House, located in Heritage Circle, alcohol is being served for the first time in the history of the State Fair. Margo Metzger, the marketing director for Our State magazine, the main sponsor of the Our State Public House, spoke on the addition of alcohol to the fair.
“As word has gotten out about the public house, we’ve seen thousands of people come through here and experience North Carolina’s best beers and wines,” Metzger said. “Everything in the Public House is North Carolina. There is nothing here that is not made in North Carolina. We have 40 brewers and 30-plus wineries represented in the Public House and you can get a chance to taste a little bit of everything.”
Alcohol is available only at the Public House, and the drinks are only served in flights, which act as sampler trays for either beer or wine. The flights are themed. For beer, an attendee can purchase a light beer flight consisting of pilsners and lagers, a dark beer flight consisting of ambers, porters and stouts or a Carolina sampler consisting of a little bit of everything. Wine is handled the same way, with sweet, white and red categories. Attendees are limited to one flight per fair day per person.
“The limit on one serving per person is just a conservative first step into serving alcohol on these fairgrounds,” Metzger said. “After 150 years of never serving a drop, 16 ounces of beer or 6 ounces of wine is a good first step. The good news is that every bit of the proceeds go back marketing and research for North Carolina.”
According to Metzger, the venue changes which beers and wines are available depending on the day to capture the full breadth of the industry.
“It’s a fantastic connection because, finally having the North Carolina breweries and wineries here on site at the fairgrounds is letting them know that they are being accepted as part of great products that come out of North Carolina agriculture,” Metzger said. “We have these wonderful vineyards and hop farms and folks growing grain. These are North Carolina products and it’s there time to shine finally here at the State Fair.”
No matter what you are interested in, the North Carolina State Fair has something for everybody. This is a tradition that should not be missed.
Parker Brantley, a third-year studying animal science, leans in to hug her heifer while practicing showing and profiling on Tuesday. NC State competes in the beef division at the NC State Fair, held Oct. 12-22.
