Introducing Fair Employee Eleanor Upchurch

For Eleanor Upchurch, stopping to smell the roses is just a pleasant bonus to her job. During the fair, Upchurch works as an assistant to the flower show superintendent.  “My main responsibilities are assisting the judges when needed, getting employees the supplies they need, and making sure things run on schedule.” She loves her job and sometimes can’t believe that she gets paid to work. Her work supports the busiest general competition show at the fair. Last year, the flower show had 4,402 exhibits spread out over three shows and offered almost $40,000 in prize money. Upchurch stays busy receiving…

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Retro “The Dating Game” photo featured on In the Field blog

Deep Fried Blog’s sister blog, In the Field, has a regular feature called “Photos from the Field” that spotlights photos from the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ archives. The NCDA&CS has managed the N.C. State Fair since 1937, when Governor W. Kerr Scott returned control to the agency from a commercial organization. (Learn more about the Fair’s history here.) This week, a photo from the 1972 N.C. State Fair featuring The Dating Game Couple was posted, which we wanted to share here.

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