Facebook reaches 1,000!

Congrats and thanks to our Facebook friends! With 1,003 friends now, the social networking site has reached the magic number as part of our 1,000 Friends Contest. On Oct. 10, all of our friends there will be entered in a drawing for 10 State Fair Prize Packs, including two admission tickets, a Midway ride booklet, State Fair T-shirt, and other fun swag. Add us today to get in on the fun. Over on MySpace, things are picking up as well. We’re up to 606 friends there, with 12 days left to make to 1,000. You got it, MySpace-ers! Tell your…

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On Oct. 4, stencil for a good cause

If you aren’t busy on Saturday, Oct. 4, the State Fair and the N.C. Division of Water Quality have a project for you. Here are the details from a DWQ press release: RALEIGH – Dozens of volunteers will gather to stencil water protection messages and brightly colored fish on storm drains located throughout the N.C. State Fairgrounds on Saturday, Oct. 4. The event is being organized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality, in partnership with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Stormwater runoff is the number one cause of water pollution in…

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Bargain hunters paradise

The State Fair is just around the corner and that means that we’ve got to shut down the Fairgrounds to get ready. This is the last weekend for the State Fairgrounds Marketplace (a.k.a. The Flea Market) and for events that take place in the buildings — most notably this weekend is the Southern Ideal Home Show which is so large it is spread across three buildings: Dorton Arena, the Graham Building and the Exposition Center. If you like flea markets and/or bargain shopping, this is a great weekend to come to the fairgrounds because all of the vendors have to…

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Midway Mania

WARNING: I was on this ride with a few screamers (um, not me, of course…) so make sure to turn your volume WAYYY DOWN before you click play. Your ear drums and co-workers will thank you! WRAL Blogger Tara Calashain dared us in her “North Carolina State Fair getting seriously online” post to record a first-person ride on the Midway. At the Mountain State Fair back in early September, I decided to do just that. So, with a tight grip on my camera and a purposely empty stomach, I grabbed a few friends and hopped on the Cortina Bob ride….

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Fair Pics: Thrill Ride Edition

Okay, so I lied. I said that every day up until the Fair we would feature one of the hundreds we’ve had posted to our MySpace and Facebook sites…well, there are so many that now we’ll be posting a couple a day! So help us, we can’t get enough. Enjoy today’s Midway-themed photos thanks to professional photog Charlie of Raleigh (find him here on MySpace) and Jean Odom, a Fair Fan who previously blogged about her Fair food diary. Keep ’em coming guys! Cover your eyes! Photo by Charlie of Raleigh. Topsy-turvy photo by Charlie of Raleigh Hair-raising photo by…

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Meet the Band: Lady Antebellum

One of the Dorton Arena concerts I’m most excited about is with Lady Antebellum on Sunday, Oct. 19. (They’ll also be performing with Heidi Newfield…keep an eye on the blog for more on her new solo career next week.) And by the way, did I mention tickets are only $8?? Although die-hard “Lady A” fans have probably already done their homework, here’s a little background on the up and coming trio. WHO: Hillary Scott (daughter of Grammy-winning country artist Linda Davis and accomplished musician Lang Scott), Charles Kelley (brother of singer-songwriter Josh Kelly, who recently tied the knot with Grey’s…

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Fair Pic: Shadows and Swings

This pic was tagged by our MySpace friend Jazzy. Gorgeous! We have some awesome friends on Facebook and MySpace–1,534 awesome friends, to be exact. One of the coolest parts of the social neworking sites is interacting with people in ways we never have before. For example, one feature allows your to take your own pictures and “tag” people in them. (Facebook/MySpace junkies are reading this thinking “Oh, really? And the sky is also blue!”) We love this because now we have 136 pictures on our profiles of fairgoers capturing their memories of the Fair. So, with only 21 days (gasp)…

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Flu shots at the Fair

Flu shots will be available in the Dome, circled above in red. For a larger map, click here. You already come to the Fair for the thrills, the atmosphere, the competitions and the yummy treats–so why not come for your health? One of our 2008 sponsors, Kerr Drug, will provide flu shots for Fair visitors everyday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Dome near Dorton Arena and Hillsborough Street. Anyone 18 years and older is eligible for the shot. They’ll be accepting people on a walk-in basis, so no appointment is necessary. The shot will be $30, or…

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Good weather = good crowd

You could say those of us who work in the State Fair Press Office are obsessed with attendance. Every morning during the fair, we eagerly await word of the previous day’s crowd. We’re interested in this information for various reasons: 1) we know the news media will be asking for it, and 2) our boss, Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler, talks every year about wanting a million people to visit the fair, and we want to see how close — or far — we are to that milestone. But the real reason we want these numbers is because, every night before…

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