North Carolina State Fair
I’ve been going to the NC State Fair since my stroller days, and it’s one of my very favorite fall traditions. Each October the State Fair comes to Raleigh for a little over a week. Nothing much changes from year to year, and that’s just how we like it. I’ve pretty much memorized the layout by now. Rides? Wisconsin cheese? Waterfall? I can point you there! I’ve also learned that visiting the fair on a weekday is the move. The weekends bring the crowds, and sometimes it’s quite honestly hard to even walk. So, my childhood bestie (Emily) and I decided to head to the fairgrounds on a Tuesday afternoon this year - just in time for lunch.
As tradition demands, we got corn dogs. You absolutely cannot go to the State Fair and not get a corn dog. They just taste better there. Trust me. Another fair staple for me is a fresh squeezed lemonade…or two. You’ve got to have something to wash down all that fried food, ya know? This year I had a regular lemonade first, followed by a strawberry lemonade later in the afternoon. Both were delicious!
After looking around at some of the exhibits, it was time for a snack and there was no question what that snack would be - Wisconsin cheese. You better believe this is the very best fried cheese you will ever have. I opted for the jalapeño cheese sticks and while I do not regret this decision, my mouth was on FIRE by the time I finished. Strawberry lemonade to the rescue!
Up next, we headed over to Dorton Arena. Fun fact: my great grandpa helped build Dorton Arena. There were lots of free samples in the arena and we LOVE us some free samples. We even got to do a mini wine tasting, which may or may not have resulted in us purchasing a bottle or two. Also located in Dorton Arena is the NC Public House, where we purchased a $10 beer+wine ticket. Emily sampled some yummy wine, and I tried a blonde ale that had a really cute name…that I don’t remember. Now you’ll never know. It was delish though!
We finished the day with huge pumpkins and barnyard animals. What could be better, right? We always love visiting the animals, especially the little piggies!
We had a blast at the 2023 North Carolina State Fair! As always, I left with sore feet and an uncomfortably full stomach, but that just means we did it right! Until next year!
-D
