Orion's Eyes

Tuesday August 01, 2006

North Carolina County Fairs



The above picture is from the 2005 Columbus County Fair in Whiteville.

To many in the Triangle the State Fair in Raleigh is the only fair they have ever experienced. Yet there are actually 45 agricultural fairs in North Carolina. Most of them are county fairs. They have animal, crop, and flower shows, travelling carnivals, food vendors, and entertainment just like the State Fair, but the ambience is much more relaxed and everything is on a smaller scale.

So if you like the idea of the State Fair, but find the crowds, long lines, noise, and size bothersome, I suggest you try out some of the smaller fairs around the state. For years I have been going to the Chatham County Fair in Pittsboro with my kids and really enjoying it. Local musicians playing on a small stage with lots of room to get up close is a lot more fun to me than crowding into the State Fair venues. Admittedly, if you go to the State Fair for the big rides, you will be disappointed by the smaller travelling companies who tour the county fairs. But if you want to get to know rural North Carolina, you won't do that in Raleigh.

Also, if the State Fair just leaves you craving more, the county fairs start this weekend and run pretty much every weekend through the end of October. The North Carolina Association of Agricultural Fairs has a web site with a calendar and some of the fairs have their own web sites so you can get some idea before you go.

The other big fair is the Mountain State Fair in Fletcher where a bunch of counties put on a fair for the western half of the state. The last of the fairs is the Cape Fear Fair in Wilmington. So you can combine a late season beach trip with an evening at the fair.

Big isn't always better. So if you want to experience some of the small pleasures that North Carolina provides, I suggest you take in a county fair or two, and leave the big city crowds behind. If you would like to see more there is a 134 page tour of last year's county fairs available as a PDF download at The Showcase of County Fairs.
Posted by orion Aug 01 2006, 10:19:29 PM EDT Permalink Comments [0]