A favorite part of the N.C. State Fair for many fairgoers is visiting the thousands of ribbon-winning exhibits across the grounds. The North Carolina State Fair is known for its agricultural roots, especially among its competitive exhibits. The competitive exhibits include 23 competition departments, with over 150 divisions and over 2,000 classes, requiring someone to oversee the planning and execution of these competitions.
Ruth Toole was hired to fill the role of N.C. State Fair Competitive Exhibits Director, in September 2025 right before the start of the fair.
Growing up on a farm in Nelson County, Va, she has always had a passion for agriculture. Her family’s farm included pumpkins, corn and soybeans. Toole became very involved in FFA in middle and high school, leading her to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Education at N.C. State University and a master’s degree in Community and Leadership Development at the University of Kentucky.
Before starting work at the N.C. State Fair, she had several internships and jobs in college, including her work with the N.C. Peanut Growers Association, a cattle farm, a sawmill, and her graduate school assistantship.
Growing up, she participated in competitions at Virginia fairs. “I primarily entered pumpkins and chocolate chip cookies. I also competed in the Crops Judging and Junior Forester’s FFA competitions held during the Virginia State Fair,” said Toole.
Though this is Toole’s first official role working with the N.C. State Fair, she did volunteer to work on the Barn Staff in the Graham Building in 2019. “My primary job was to keep the public from entering the exhibitor area where the livestock was being held for the livestock shows. I also helped give directions and answered any questions they had about the livestock shows,” said Toole.
In her new role as the Competitive Exhibits Director, Toole’s responsibilities primarily include overseeing the competitions at the N.C. State Fair. Even though the competitions take place during the N.C. State Fair in October, there is a lot of preparation that must be completed throughout the remainder of the year for them to run smoothly. She works closely with the superintendents of each competition department to revise and edit the Premium Book, find judges and exhibit workers, and manage the set-up and execution of the exhibits for the fair. Toole also oversees the competition registration process and the exhibitor premium check distribution after the fair competitions are completed.
In terms of goals, Toole said, “I want to increase educational aspects of not just the competitions, but the fair itself. I have always appreciated non-formal agriculture education. Through my time visiting other state fairs, I have seen the ways that others have made their fairs more educational. With their ideas and some ideas of my own, I believe I can make that possible.”
After her hands-on experience with the 2025 fair competitions, Toole is ready to start making her own impact. “If you stay stagnant, people may lose interest,” said Toole. “I want to try and adapt to what people are interested in now to make the best experience possible for participants competing and fairgoers that come to see the exhibits.”
One way that she is seeking to captivate greater exhibitor interest this year is by introducing a few new competitions. Some of the new competitions for the 2026 N.C. State Fair include:
- Plein Air Competition: This competition challenges artists to create a piece of art on site during a day of the fair to be submitted for judging.
- Country Ham Competition: Whole hams and cut hams will be judged based on appearance and taste.
- Egg Show Competition: This competition will feature farm grown eggs to be judged as if they were being graded, which includes criteria like uniformity, appearance, and shell thickness.
- Amateur Wine Competition: Though this competition has been held in the past, it will be making a return for the 2026 Fair.
In addition to these new competitions, she will be expanding the Folk Festival to include new divisions related to dramatic arts, show choir and a cappella groups.
Toole’s favorite part of the fair is seeing the joy and excitement competition exhibitors and fairgoers have while they are at the fair. “I am grateful to get to play a part in helping provide opportunities for people to find joy and excitement through their involvement in the competitions,” said Toole.
She is looking forward to this year’s State Fair and to seeing how it all turns out! We hope to see you all there!