About the Fair

The North Carolina State Fair is an 11-day event hosted in Raleigh, North Carolina. This event attracts more than 800,000 people with the mission to showcase and promote the state’s agriculture, arts, crafts, and cultures. Aside from the hundreds of amusement rides found throughout the whopping 344 acre fairground, the fair also showcases livestock, horticulture, cooking, folk art, and more through both educational and competitive exhibits.

Fair History

The first North Carolina State Fair was held in 1853 and was only open for four days. The fair reopened in 1869 after the Civil War and moved to the NC State Fairgrounds in 1873. Before the turn of the century, electricity was used, and innovative technology such as photography became popular exhibits – chicken incubators joined the photography exhibit shortly after.

In 1900, the first food booths popped up. Five years later, President Theodore Roosevelt spoke to fairgoers. Shortly after, the commercial and educational buildings were constructed, and the fair was placed under the Department of Agriculture’s control. In 1950, the Village of Yesteryear opened and a model of what is now known as Dorton Arena was displayed in the main exhibit hall. The fair was then moved to a six-day operation and then to a nine-day operation in 1969. In the following years, patrons would hear from three more presidents: Gerald Ford, George Herbert Walker Bush, and Bill Clinton. In 1986, fair themes were introduced. The infamous “Nothing Could be Finer” theme made its debut in 1997.

Favorite Foods at the Fair

The fair is notorious for crazy and delicious food combinations. Here are some foods from every category that you should try:

Fried: fried Oreos, fried mac-n-cheese, deep-fried chocolate chip cookie dough

Classics: fresh-squeezed lemonade, Steve’s Hotdogs, country ham biscuits, turkey legs, Bloomin' Onion, chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick, pineapple smoothies

Interesting Combos: red velvet funnel cakes, pimento cheese hushpuppies, fried chicken and waffle kabobs, NC lump crab meat hushpuppies, fried bacon pimento cheeseburger egg roll, jalapeno Cheetos bacon, Krispy Kreme burgers

This Year at the Fair

This year, the fair will be held from October 14th through October 24th with the theme of “Worth the Wait!”. Because of COVID, the State Fair was canceled last year for the first time since World War II. Competitions were live-streamed to the public, but no spectators were allowed in. This year, the fair is prepped and ready to open back up to the general public on October 14th. It will certainly be worth the wait!