This year marks the 300th anniversary of the infamous pirate Blackbeard’s shipwreck and beheading at sea, but conservators at the Queen Anne’s Revenge lab in Greenville are still uncovering preserved artifacts like it was just yesterday. This weekend, the N.C. Museum of History hosts City of Oaks Pirate Fest. Read below about our pirate exhibit … Read more
Meet the Henson brothers—Noah, Jesse, and Caleb. They live in the mountain town of Canton. Every year, they set goals for the season and do their best to achieve them. During last year’s fair season, they had a goal that revolved around a goat named John. They knew the goat was special, and they wanted … Read more
Following is a guest post from Marisa Linton. Marisa grew up showing and raising livestock, and currently lives on her family’s small farm in Mount Olive. She has shown animals at the N.C. State Fair for 14 years and is a past youth livestock scholarship recipient. She is an N.C. State University graduate, agricultural photographer … Read more
A fine-art painter and a porcelain-art maker were honored as the craftsman and craftswoman of the year in the Village of Yesteryear at the N.C. State Fair. Walter Creech, a painter and water-colorist from Saxaphaw, and Gay Lord, who works with porcelain, of Orlando, received the honors. “This award is given to one man and … Read more
For the past 14 years, I’ve been on one of the most thrilling public relations rides in North Carolina. As public affairs director for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, I have had the opportunity to communicate with the public about a wide variety of topics. What I’ll remember most, though, is the … Read more
“Where’s the bathrooms?” “Where’s the pig races?” “Where can I get tickets or redeem my ride wristbands?” Paul Brown, who mans an information booth near Gate 9, ranks those as the top three questions he gets on a daily basis. This is Brown’s third year working an information booth and the first for Trish … Read more
In the midst of the chaos that the fair can bring, I found solace in the most unlikely place: amongst a handful of 7 and 8 year olds on Thursday afternoon at the cookie decorating contest. Ten contestants took eight minutes to decorate their cookies using different colored icing and sprinkles. With a blue ribbon prize … Read more
If you have been able to come to the fair more than once, or like a handful of us really lucky people get to be here every day, you may have watched the progress on the 120-foot long piece of art being created by Ryan Christenson of Wallingford, Conn. outside of the Exposition Center. Christenson, … Read more
This year, the State Fair includes close to 200 food vendors and they are all ah-mazing. There are two that came to shine, though. Followers of N.C. State Fair social media voted for their favorite food this year. Al’s French Fries took home the award for 2017 Best Food at the Fair. Allison Jefferson Beckwith … Read more
Glen Farmer is a heavy-scales inspector with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. For a few shifts during the N.C. State Fair, he weighs something a little more fun — fair-goers. For the last 20 years, he has worked the Standards Division booth inside the Education Building near the House-Autry hush puppies. “We … Read more