Celebrate What's Great in NC! Agriculture!

For those of you who don’t know, the North Carolina State Fair 2011 kicked off last weekend on the 13^th. For some of you, the fair may bring back old memories of that Ferris wheel ride with a loved one, biscuits for breakfast and bbq sandwiches for lunch on church row, midway games of challenge and skill, or more recently, the deep fried foods. However for me, I can still remember the first time I attended with my family. Coming from a predominately rural background, I had seen and was somewhat familiar with livestock and crops, but I couldn’t wait to see the blue ribbon winners at the fair for all sorts of categories. This was not only my favorite part of the fair, but has been for many people way back when the North Carolina AGRICULTURAL fair was first held by the North Carolina Agricultural Society in 1853. In that time, the fair was mostly state wide agricultural shows for crops, livestock, gardening, and horse pulls. The North Carolina State Fair has always revolved around our state’s agricultural community. Being held in the fall was no coincidence, because that was the harvest season. Folks from all over the state would bring, what they thought, was the biggest of whatever they were bringing (vegetable competitions), or the prettiest of whatever they were showing (livestock judging) to the fair in hopes of receiving a prize ribbon. The State Fair has celebrated what North Carolina is doing in Agriculture every year. Now, you can find everything from chicken and duck shows, other livestock shows, tractor and draft horse pulls, demolition derbys, food galore, rides and games, concerts and entertainment shows, and tons of community service booths and vendors. All of this derived from the North Carolina agricultural fair way back when and we need to keep it based around what feeds our state, and where our economic strength should be, Agriculture.

So when you attend the fair this year, or the next time you go, please remember that this fair is celebrating what is great in our state. Agriculture. Goodness Grows In NC.  If you have never ever seen an agricultural exhibit, or even noticed an animal or vegetable at the fair, I challenge you to go into one this year! Who knows, it might spark a love a-fair passion for agriculture.