Michelle’s Magical Poodles

FREE: Grounds entertainment

Bearded Lady September 6 September 6

On any given day at the N.C. State Fair, you can catch more than 20 free performances from our lineup of talented grounds entertainment. You can see BMX stunt bikers flying through the air, witness the side-splitting powers of a comedy superhero and even see the super-fast speed of racing swine. They’re just a few of the free entertainment options, which also includes eight roaming acts and at least six daily concerts on the Waterfall and Bluegrass stages. The following is a rundown of this year’s grounds acts. What are your favorite acts at the State Fair? Circle “C” Racing…

Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup Recap

Bearded Lady October 15 October 15

Thanks to everyone who showed up for the 2nd annual Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup at the N.C. State Fair last night. The press office had a great time meeting more than 100 of our social media friends from Twitter and Facebook in real life. We’d like to thank the guys from OurHashtag for helping to plan a great Triangle Tweetup and the guys from TriOut for making the first State Fair scavenger hunt using QR codes a great success. For those who missed it, the Tweetup featured samplings of some of our favorite Fair foods: deep-fried Chips Ahoy by Murphy…

Free grounds entertainment abounds (Part 1)

Firecracker August 13 August 12

HoopDrum returns to the 2010 N.C. State Fair It’s an interesting balancing act that State Fair Assistant Manager Mike Pleasant plays each year when booking grounds entertainment. While he strives to bring new and interesting acts to the Fair, whenever something disappears, he hears from scores of disappointed people who were hoping to see just the act that he didn’t renew. So to keep things fresh, he rotates acts around, bringing in new acts every few years and giving some acts a year or two breathing room before bringing them back. This year’s grounds entertainment is mostly entertainers that fairgoers…

Details behind the Tweetup: Entertainer/artist edition

Cotton Candy October 9 October 9

As we get closer and closer to the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, we wanted to give you a little more information on what you can expect at the event beyond lots of tweeting, lots of friends and lots of N.C. State Fair lovers. We’ll be “releasing” these details every few days leading up to Thursday, Oct. 22, when four cans will get you into the fairgrounds for free. (If you don’t have four cans on you, you can always pay admission at the gate.) Keep an eye here on the blog, on our Twitter account and on the Triangle Tweetup…

Behind the scenes with…Michelle’s Magical Poodles

Cotton Candy August 17 August 17

This week’s “Behind the scenes with…” feature could also be called “On the road with…,” as Michelle Harrell lets us tag along on a typical day for her and her four poodles as they travel from fair to fair. On her Web site, Michelle, a.k.a. the “Poodle Mama,” explains how it all began: Michelle’s Magical Poodles was initially inspired by Cupid, the star of the show. Cupid was an abandoned and rescued poodle, adopted by Michelle Harrell. Cupid’s quick to learn and eager to please personality was matched only by his natural ability and effortless agility. While searching for a…

Returning Line-up

Firecracker May 27 May 27

One of the more difficult jobs at the Fair is trying to determine the right balance for the grounds entertainment. We want to keep things fresh and bring in new acts, but also keep in mind that fairgoers create traditions of going to see certain acts year after year. This balancing act falls in the lap of our Assistant Fair Manager, Mike Pleasant. Mike has to decide when an act has run its course or when to bring it back. Sometimes that means not booking a favorite act for a year or two. Or in the case of an act…

Q&A: Statue Viva’s Michelle Harrell

Cotton Candy August 13 May 10

No, an ancient statue from the N.C. Museum of Art didn’t escape and make its way across Blue Ridge Road to the fairgrounds–that’s just Michelle Harrell, creator and performer in the Fair’s Statue Viva entertainment and resident ‘Poddle Mama’ for the new Michelle’s Magical Poodles show. You can find her roaming all around the fairgrounds posing as famous statues from around the world and in the Kiddieland Fun Park everyday during the Fair at 2 and 4 p.m. How did you first get started?I was inspired by a Swiss man in Key West, Florida. I saw him create a kind…

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