Yesterday I shared some of the amazing food to be had at the North Carolina State Fair and today I am going to take you along for a day at the fair. But before I start let’s talk about the tradition. The North Carolina State Fair is a wonderful display of North Carolina’s agriculture and culture. It’s a yearly tradition, celebrating the best of what the state has to offer.
The fair features more than 200 vendors that showcase art, crafts, furniture, jewelry, clothing, food items, and much more. The activities include carnival games for kids & adults, live music concerts by local bands or DJs on stage in concert venues, and performances by our talented animal show performers.
There are also demonstrations in cooking techniques and craft skills by chefs and artisans throughout the fairgrounds to entertain guests while they shop or eat at one of the many food concessions.
Gracie, my youngest who you will meet in this post, went along for the ride at the fair. We left our house mid-morning and arrived a few hours after the fair opened. We were able to find a parking spot quickly even though it was a little bit of a hike to the entrance. ( We had to take a tunnel which took us under the street and even though I thought it was cool, Gracie was a little freaked out.) We didn’t have to wait in line since I had tickets from attending the food tasting the Monday before.
Once we were in the gates, we made a plan to walk around first and see all the exhibits, then find food and sit and eat and then leave. I was there just for the farm animals, did I tell you that we used to have free-range chickens? I didn’t well that will be a story for another day. I first wanted to check out the Got to Be NC pavilion which hosted products made only in our beautiful state. I may or may not have bought a couple of bottles of Apple Orchard Reisling from my favorite winery The Country Squire. ( Fingers crossed I will get to work with them in the future- Apple Orchard is my absolute favorite wine. I also got a lot of information and ideas for future stories.
After touring the pavilion, we headed over to the show barn where all the cows were being pampered. These are the divas of cows. They are washed and dried daily. I wish there was a livestock competition when we were there because I would have loved to see that but sadly there wasn’t. I learned a lot about show cattle when I attended the Gate to Plate Tour sponsored by Feed The Dialogue and NC Farm Bureau.
After that we toured all the other agricultural exhibits including the kids’ barnyard. And if the line wasn’t so long I would have paid $5 to milk a cow. Yes, I love cows that much. But by the time we found this we were exhausted and ready to make the hour drive home. Plus I wanted to escape the traffic and the fair by that time was pretty crowded.
So you won’t be surprised when I tell you I promptly came home and took a nap. I do have to mention that Gracie and I had originally planned on going to the fair last Friday but that pesky migraine of mine just wouldn’t let up.
However, I will say I can’t wait to go back next year when the fair comes around by that time this blog will be more established and I hope that Raul, the hubby can join us on our adventures. Check back tomorrow to see my final post wrapping up the North Carolina State Fair.