Guus Bosman

Saturday morning I went to the North Carolina State Fair. I took a smarter route than last year so parking was no issue this time.

The fair is a lot of fun, many different things to see and so many different people. I spent an hour or two walking around. I liked the agricultural exhibitions: weirdly shaped pumpkins, wonderful roses etc. Food is important at the fair, and I tried banana pudding and had a hushpuppie in a corn mill.

The best part I found by accident: there was a very nice music & dance show in a big tent near the water rides at the Midway. There was blue grass and regional music, and a number of traditional youth dance groups.

Lots of pictures below.

The Midway.

Drying tobacco leaves. Tobacco used to be, and still is, a very important crop for North Carolina.

Products from North Carolina.

There was a contest for roses.

Old farming equipment.

A children's ride with real animals.

Free fall!

Carved pumpkins with the Duke, NC State and the Tarheels sport team logo's.

The Raleigh Jaycees' Turkey Shoot, where I volunteered last Tuesday.

Turkey legs. I had one of them for dinner on Tuesday.

The food on the fair is something special. You can get the strangest things deep-fried. I didn't really feel like trying deep fried Snickers, Coca Cola or pickles.

The ice cream made by NC State is supposed to be very delicious, but the line was way too long. I tried banana pudding (from the restaurant at the Raleigh Farmer's Market). A colleague from Tennessee is crazy about this and it's indeed delicious.

A donkey.

Live music.

See also the pictures from the State Fair in 2006.