This Just In – The building excitement has led to this great moment in North Carolina … a giant orange squash, many, many pigs, strangers trying to guess your age and FUDGE.
Yes, I’m talking about the State Fair.
As you read this, I should be somewhere on the midway, marching behind my exuberant grandsons, perhaps carrying a goldfish or two in a bag. Since the boys are now deeply involved with caring for their own chickens these days, I imagine we’ll spend more time than usual admiring all the varieties and trying to get the roosters started crowing.
It really is the sameness of the State Fair that makes it the great event that we enjoy regularly. I’ve never been on that Ferris wheel, but I do enjoy seeing it especially at sunset. The skyride gives the best overview of the midway, but I’ve never been on that.
There’s a mill that sits adjacent to the pond on the fairgrounds and it offers some of the best hush puppies in the area. Part of the reason they’re the best is that they’re at the fair. Needless to say, the funnel cake game is stellar at the fair and I still don’t understand how they can deep fry ice cream, but they do it!
Kids from all over the state show their livestock at the fair. It’s delightful to see them washing cows and horses and caring for piglets.
Before going to the fair, I hope to be able to get to my favorite early voting site and get my voting DONE. Fingers crossed that the line won’t be too long, though it might be a good warm—up for lining up for things at the fair. I have what I need – current photo ID and some determination.
The sameness and stability of the fair are a great balance to the chaos that comes with watching our national elections unfold. When I feel the need to see the business end of a horse, I want it to be on the fairgrounds in Raleigh.
If you’re recruiting for your employer and want to convince someone to relocate to North Carolina for work, what you do is bring them here in September or October. Except for the occasional hurricanes, these months give the best window of beautiful Chamber-of-Commerce weather.
About those hurricanes … this year our western NC brothers and sisters have really taken one in the teeth. I expect that at the fair we will find opportunities to help with various ways to donate. World Central Kitchen is probably my favorite group to support in such events. They do simply amazing work in feeding storm victims and first responders. Whether it’s here or anywhere they work in the world, they’re worthy of your gift of any amount.
So please do yourself the service of going to the fair, voting early and taking a deep breath of this cool October weather. The forecast shows us inching back up to near 80˚ next week – yet one more blast before the summer’s really, really gone (a pronouncement written strictly in pencil, until early December).
Featured photo via Justin Kase Conder/North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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