Each year we hold a Media Preview Lunch to tip the media to new exhibits, programs, events, rides, and FOOD that will be at the Fair this year. It’s a great way to put some stories out there that might not otherwise make it to your news pages or channels, and to get a feel for what gets the media excited about this year’s Fair.
As you can tell from this post’s title, one thing everyone–including us– was excited about was the new foods. Exhibitor Murphy House showed its latest creations: Bite-sized, deep fried mac’n’cheese and deep fried pecan pie on a stick (quite possibly the longest food name ever). The mac’n’cheese comes in little bites of breaded macaroni and cheese…and trust me, as a very, very experienced mac’n’cheese eater, these things are gooood.
But perhaps even better was the deep fried pecan pie on a stick. It has all the making of a Fair classic, i.e. it’s fried, it’s sweet and it’s on a stick. The New Raleigh blog calls it the “Baklava of the South,” and it received rave reviews from both the Press Office and the media (and a few on Twitter). And speaking of Twitter, visit social media site 30THREADS for bloggers Ginny Skalski and David Millsaps’ reviews of the new treats.
Another fun addition to the Media Lunch was the Wolfpack Cloggers from N.C. State University. They previewed part of their competition routine that they’ll perform in full at the Folk Festival to help celebrate the Fair-long event’s 60th anniversary. Luckily, they didn’t stuff themselves with deep fried food before showing off all their fancy footwork.