The NC state fair was JAMMED packed with happy people eating fried foods and meat. The longest line was doughnuts, shout out to Peachey’s. Sometimes it’s good to turn the internet off and just go enjoy life. Does anyone else find the real world moves faster than the electric? Kind of like all the fake celebrity pictures at events going around now that are AI generated? The no jewelry is always a dead giveaway. There’s all you can ride for $30 passes so families were running around eating their weight in tasty fudge dipped apples (another long line), giant turkey legs, and fried corn among MANY others between rides was a highlight. Fair food is the best. Everything was clean and organized with great staff. It’s lovely when you see event planners do a great job and pull together. The great classic fall events with new venues that along with an apparent shift from scifi to fantasy films bears watching.
Cows seem to be really another trend for some reason as they’ve edged out some of the smaller breeds so that’s another definite watch. The North Carolina State Beekeepers Association display was great. They really nailed it complete with a live beehive with cameras. Little kids piled around the Carolina Reaper and other hots peppers in the live vegetable section locked safely under glass and key next door sucking down honey sticks. It’s funny how peppers are what small children seem to visually respond to. NC has the hottest peppers in the world the past 20+ years between the Carolina Reaper and Pepper X. Probably all that football BBQ grillouts. The chicken and small poultry livestock seemed a little thin, but that may have just been due to cows being so popular. The master gardener section and live folk music were also packed along the rides. And an electric garden up front complete with small bags of root vegetables for toddlers to try. Everything was grown on-site which was cool. The only thing couldn’t figure out was how much electricity people are adding to fields for this concept of improving yields. Is this just solar farms meets traditional agriculture? More research required.
The best tall tales came from old couples wandering around. There was a beautiful sunflower and herb garden completing this year in the master gardener section. A grizzled guy and his wife were stopped to look at all the colors as they were his favorite things in the mountains. The old timer told of one of bear who fell in love with his sunflowers and would come down in the summer to lay in a sunflower field near his house, pulling them down and munching on them before rambling off to catch trout. Small black bears in much of our state are pretty adorable compared to grizzlies so people tend to enjoy them, especially on the East Coast in a way you don’t always see up north. A man and a bear sharing a mutual love of sunflowers. Life is full of unexpected movements.
Lastly, tucked in a corner was a great exhibit on NC peanuts with these cute recipe cards on them. Really wish someone would add stuff like that to the local farmers market from the agricultural department. And grocery stores. The biggest reason shoppers often hesitate to try new foods is not knowing how to eat or prepare them. 20+ years ago, Harris Teeter did little seed card holder size stands for recipes to educate shoppers on how to prepare healthy foods for kids. Fantastic. Not going to lie, there was probably some cross-promotional logic as pumpkin pie featured graham cracker crust and whipped cream, but it is still a clever sales technique. Nice to see it making a comeback. Anyone else on the hunt for a good sweet potato apple bread recipe? Ideally with whole wheat? The honey association also had a cute little flyer what knocked it out of the park too.
What live fall event are you going to next?