Trace Adkins’ career has expanded beyond country music

Each week until the start of the State Fair, the Deep Fried Crew will highlight one of the 2014 Dorton Arena entertainers. Tickets for all concerts and advance admission and ride tickets are on sale online here. Get your tickets early to save time and money, and to reserve your seat for your favorite Dorton Arena performer. Check out this year’s lineup here. This week we highlight country singer Trace Adkins. With more than 10 million album sales, 30 Billboard Top 40 hits, five No. 1 singles and four Grammy nominations, Trace Adkins is a country music superstar. He blew…

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Announcing Commissioner’s Challenge for Food Lion Hunger Relief Day

Food Lion Hunger Relief Day at the N.C. State Fair is just around the corner. On Thursday, Oct. 18, you can bring four cans of Food Lion-brand food with you to the fair and get free gate admission all day. All food collected during the event will be donated to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. The food bank helps more than 560,000 people annually in a 34-county area surrounding Raleigh. About 73,000 people receive emergency food assistance in any given week from the food bank. With such a great need in our community, Agriculture Commissioner Steve…

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Artist Spotlight: Brian McKnight

With a career that spans more than 20 years, Brian McKnight continues to be a powerful voice in the R&B community. Dedicated fans can probably remember playing his self-titled 1992 debut album on their Walkmans, and rewinding “One Last Cry” over and over and over again. For some fans, including yours truly, Brian McKnight will always be 1999’s “Back at One” album. That album was great for slow dancing and the title track, “Back at One,” taught millions of us about a five-step process to win over our loves. Flash forward to 2012 and Brian McKnight has a new album,…

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Deep Fried Ambassador: Deep Fried is Fun. Hunger is Not.

This is a guest blogger post by our Official Deep Fried Ambassador, Amy. We’ll be reposting her State Fair adventures from her Practical Cook blog throughout the Fair. Deep Fried Is Fun, Hunger Is Not: Hunger Relief Day at the N.C. State Fair (with video) Gentle Readers, we’re going to change things up a bit today and address a problem that affects us all, hunger. The Practical Cook was raised in a farming family whose goal was to feed anyone who came through the door, and that still stands true. There’s an easy way to help on Thursday, October 20, 2011:…

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A 300,000 pound challenge

Food Lion Hunger Relief Day, our annual benefit for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, is Thursday, Oct. 20, when fairgoers can bring four cans of Food Lion brand food to the fair in exchange for admission to the fair for that day. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler wants this year to be the largest food drive yet, and he’s willing to put some money on it. If fairgoers break last year’s record of 247,569 pounds of canned food, the fair will donate $1,000 to the food bank. If collections top 275,000 pounds, the fair will kick in…

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Behind the scenes with…Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina

Food Lion Hunger Relief Day continues to be one of the most popular days at the Fair. It could be because donating four cans of food gets you into the Fair free that day. It might also be the reward of being part of one of the largest single-day food drives in the state. We hope it’s a little of both. Last year, fairgoers donated 222,956 pounds of food to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, but on Thursday, Oct. 21, we hope to collect even more food. We recently visited the Food Bank’s Raleigh location to take a tour and see how the staff prepares…

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10.22.09: A double record setting day

We are a happy group of people in the press office this morning. We are fresh off the fun of the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup and Food Lion Hunger Relief Day at the Fair. Just a little while ago, the attendance report came down and we had 108,929 people come through the gates yesterday, more than 48,000 of whom brought canned foods in exchange for free admission. This equals out to 237,534 pounds of food, or more than 200,000 meals, that were donated to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.This was a record for Thursday attendance and…

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Friday Night Food Drive OT

We told you last week about the official kickoff event to this year’s Food Lion Hunger Relief Day – Friday Night Food Drive. Last Friday, the football teams at Cary High and Athens Drive challenged each other to see which team could collect the most food during Cary’s homecoming game. In all, the two schools collected more than 3,000 cans of food to benefit the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Cary High walked away the winner of the food drive, collecting more than 2,500 cans of food. The Cary High team will be recognized by Agriculture Commissioner…

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Get your “tweet on” at the first Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup

Having a hard time expressing your thoughts in 140 characters or less? (For the record, the previous question was 70 characters). We may be able to help with a special event for social media users like you – the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup at the N.C. State Fair. The event, co-hosted with the founders of Triangle Tweetup, will be held in the Folk Festival Tent Thursday, Oct. 22, from 7 to 9 p.m. And because we’re holding the tweetup on Food Lion Hunger Relief Day, everyone will get in free with four cans of food benefitting the Food Bank of…

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