North Carolina State Fair Draws Record Crowd
Brittany Kielhurn

From October 13^th to October 22^nd this year, the North Carolina State Fair was in town.  It brought with it good ol’ southern cuisine, art exhibits, livestock exhibitions, and, of course, the rides.  Most every student in the area can say that they went to the fair at least once.

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Monday the 16^th was probably the day that the most Cary Academy students could be found at the fair.  This was “Fall Break,” when the entire school was given the day off.  Many students used this free time to beat the crowds, or just to go with their friends.  Many Cary Academy students there bumped into other friends while there.  Public schools also had the day off, so it was a time where the majority of the people at the fair were teenagers.  Coincidentally, Monday’s attendance was the second highest ever recorded on that day compared to previous years. Also, compared to the other weekdays this year, Monday's attendance was beaten only by the record-breaking Thursday, which was Winn-Dixie day.

Records were also broken on the final Saturday and Sunday of the fair, beating all previous records for their corresponding days since 1987.  The attendance on each day except for Wednesday also exceeded the average attendance from each year.  These records for individual days, and above-average sales for almost all the others, led to the highest North Carolina State Fair attendance record ever.  With 846,724 people visiting the fair from October 13^th to October 22^nd, beating the previous 1998 record  of 779,356 people by a whopping 67,368 people Agricultural Commissioner Jim Graham’s response was overwhelmingly positive.  “I am extremely pleased with the record attendance we’ve had at the 2000 N.C. State Fair. We had tremendous weather for the full 10 days and I think the record is a testament to the high quality entertainment, exhibits, competition and events that were a part of this fair. If you put on a good event, people will want to be there.”

Different parts of the fair attracted different people, but for teenagers, the major attractions were the rides.  On Monday, the lines were dozens of people long; the majority of those waiting were older than 20.  Another popular feature for people of all ages was the sculpture of Commissioner Jim Graham milking a cow.  Why?  It was made completely out of butter.  Commissioner Graham’s response when he saw the sculpture was: "I think they're trying to butter me up.”  This 850-pound sculpture was created by Jim Victor, of Conshohocken, Pa., who worked from Wednesday the 11^th until Friday the 20^th to complete it.

Another important event at the State Fair was Winn-Dixie Day on Thursday the 19^th.  On this day, fairgoers could skip the admission fee, and instead were asked to donate 4 cans of Thrifty Made canned goods to get in.  All cans collected on Thursday were donated to the North Carolina Food Bank, which provides food to soup kitchens all over the state.  A total of 183,000 pounds of cans were collected this year.

A statement from Commissioner Graham at the end of the fair sums up the general attitude best.  Graham said that he “wants to express his genuine appreciation and thanks to all the people who have made the fair a phenomenal success and to all the fairgoers who attended during the past 10 days. The State Fair exists because of them.”