Author: Cotton Candy

Karlie Justus - blogged for the 2008 / 2009 N.C. State Fairs. This is her bio from 2009: When I'm not blogging for the N.C. State Fair, I go by Karlie Justus--but Cotton Candy suits me just fine. My earliest memories of the Fair are of the times my parents would bring my brother and I up from Asheville, N.C. for a double dose of the Fair and a N.C. State football game. Fast-forward two decades later, and I'm a public information officer for the deep fried celebration whose must-see Fair attractions include the giant pumpkins, decorated cakes and deep fried Oreos.

Retro “The Dating Game” photo featured on In the Field blog

Deep Fried Blog’s sister blog, In the Field, has a regular feature called “Photos from the Field” that spotlights photos from the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ archives. The NCDA&CS has managed the N.C. State Fair since 1937, when Governor W. Kerr Scott returned control to the agency from a commercial organization. (Learn more about the Fair’s history here.) This week, a photo from the 1972 N.C. State Fair featuring The Dating Game Couple was posted, which we wanted to share here.

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Top Deep Fried Blog posts of 2009

2009 was a great year here in the deep-fried N.C. State Fair offices. We broke individual and overall attendance records, had a Twitter-ific tweetup, collected more cans on Food Lion Hunger Relief Day than ever before, crowned our first Deep Fried Ambassador and, of course, taste-tested some pretty interesting deep-fried food. As we cross into another year, we thought we’d take a look back at the top five Deep Fried Blog posts of 2009. 5. Deep-fried Ho Hos and chocolate-covered bacon Note: If video doesn’t appear, try refreshing your browser. 4. State Fair Press Office: Concert lineup announced Note: If…

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Social media presentation

We had a great time at last week’s Triangle Social Media Club meeting. Special thanks to Wayne Sutton and the Our Hashtag team for inviting us to speak, Twine Interactive for hosting and to Jason Peck, our fellow speaker. In case you missed it, here is the presentation we gave to the group. We saw many familiar faces and were excited to meet a few new people as well. Keep up with the Triangle Social Media Club through its Facebook page – the December meeting should be announced soon. Also, stay tuned for updates from our own Green Thing, who…

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Nov. 12 Triangle Social Media Club meeting to feature N.C. State Fair

Throughout the year, we strive to bring our followers on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr and YouTube and readers here on the Deep Fried Blog the type of behind-the-scenes content that they can’t find anywhere else. Hopefully, you were able to improve your 2009 Fair experience through some or all of these channels. (If not, let us know! We would love to hear your feedback.) On our end, we enjoyed tracking down the most interesting stories and people at the Fair for the blog and connecting with fairgoers on our social networking sites. Since the Fair, we’ve been compiling information to…

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Deep Fried Ambassador update: Can I get a piece of lettuce?

This is our 2009 Deep Fried Ambassador’s last roundup for our Deep Fried Blog. We had such a blast following her blog posts and were happy to have her as part of the deep-fried crew. Be sure to stop by her Pretty*Swell blog, and check out all of her posts on her deep-fried adventures. This is my final post as your Deep-Fried State Fair Ambassador. Sniff. I have lived and breathed the North Carolina State Fair for two weeks and loved every minute of it. I traversed practically every square inch of the fairgrounds, tried all sorts of new things,…

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Deep Fried Ambassador update: Flying high

(This is part 5 of the “Whole Lotta Loony” series chronicling the adventures of your Deep-Fried Ambassador and Deputy Deep-Fried at the North Carolina State Fair.) I did it! Finally, after 5,000 visits to the State Fair in the last ten days, I worked up the nerve to ride the 100-foot-tall Vertigo Swing. With my stomach in my throat. I know, I know. It’s not exactly a high-intensity thrill ride. And, yes, there were some kids on the ride. Ahem. BUT, I have a huge fear of heights. Huge. From the moment I heard about the Vertigo at the press…

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Photographs of photographs

A picture, as they say, is worth 1,000 words. As a writer, I’m used to coming up with ways of stringing together words to create the most clarity and impact, but I’m always fascinated with the ways that shading, editing, cropping, zooming and lighting can tell a story without any words whatsoever. It’s probably no surprise, then, that one of my favorite things to do is browse the Arts and Photography exhibit. North Carolina has some very talented professional, amateur and student artists, and the work displayed here at the Fair is a testament to that. Here are a few…

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LEGO versions of Dorton Arena, Rod Brind’Amour in Hobbies and Crafts Building

If you came out to the Fair during the first weekend, hopefully you were able to stop by the LEGO Experience Tour. (If not, check out our attempt at building a LEGO corndog.) The Fair has another LEGO exhibit that takes up residence each year in the Hobbies and Crafts Building. Talented youth compete for blue ribbons by building one-of-a-kind LEGO creations, and this year we saw some impressive entries. Check out the video for LEGO versions of a lighthouse, hand, Dorton Arena and even the Carolina Hurricane’s Rod Brind’Amour hoisting Lord Stanley’s cup.

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Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup: Deep fried, IRL

At last night’s Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, more than 150 revelers (twevelers?) came together to celebrate deep-fried food, face-painted Fail Whales and, of course, the rocking Twitter community here in the Triangle. We had a great time at the event, and we hope our tweeps did too. Also, we want to give attendees (and everyone else who came to the Fair on Thursday) a HUGE shout out for your contributions to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina (@FoodBankCENC). By bringing four cans in exchange for admission on Food Lion Hunger Relief Day (@FoodLion), you helped us raised…

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Deep Fried Ambassador update: Reptile on a stick

(This is part 4 of the “Whole Lotta Loony” series chronicling the adventures of your Deep-Fried Ambassador and Deputy Deep-Fried at the North Carolina State Fair.) Is it possible that all state fair food could be described as weird?  I mean, most of it is stuff we don’t normally eat in our daily lives, except for that one magical week of the year when diets and scales go out the window. But I think some fair food is stranger than others. Like side meat. What exactly is that? Guess I’m not southern enough. Also ostrich. I hope I don’t offend…

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