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Thanks everyone for all of the info (and the video). We too had bathroom workers with tip jars-it caused a huge outrage the first year.
I went online and got the tickets, so money was saved already!!
My kids are appalled that there both heard at school there is turkey shooting!
I personally cant wait to attend a different state fair for the FIRST time ever!
This is the best site for questions when you're new to the area.
Thanks again!!
Turkeys aren't shot at the Turkey Shoot. I think I heard that building in the video was going to be torn down this year -- not sure.
The term Turkey Shoot is used for shooting contests -- and they use only targets and not turkeys.
Welcome to NC! We LOVE the fair and go every single year with our 2 boys. Compared to the State Fair in Illinois, this one has been much cleaner. Mainly because most of it is paved.
You don't really need to worry about drunks at the fair because there is no beer tent. No alcohol is served at all. A very nice thing that they do is have a separate midway for the smaller kids. It's not as loud and crazy as the main midway so that might be good for your 5 yo. There are also places to sit down, some with shade umbrellas--very nice for families with young children.
We always get free hush puppies at the mill. The mill is not stroller accessible but it's neat to walk through and see how the corn is ground into corn meal. If you need a quiet place for your 5 yo, the garden exhibits are nice and there is a big open area with benches. Also near there is the "yesteryear" area with a blacksmith you can watch and a stage that features bluegrass acts. Be sure to check out the tobacco exhibit by the blacksmith's shop. You can see tobacco that is strung up to dry and they have a small working tobacco drying barn. Being from the midwest, my husband and I found it very interesting to learn about tobacco.
When the boys were younger we used to take them out of school for the day. That was the best way to do it because we could go on a weekday and get there early before everybody else came after school. Now that they are in middle and high school, we go right after school gets out. Avoid the canned food day where you can get free admission with a donation of canned food. We went that day one year and it was busier than usual.
Years ago, many schools used the first Friday of the State Fair as a Teacher Workday! Before that, when I was in high school, most of us left school early and went to the State Fair on that Friday anyway!!! I never knew that was the lowest attended day!
We now go on a Tuesday or Wednesday, to avoid the weekends. That is when more of the out of town folks show up!
We always took our kids out of school early on that day and headed to the Fair by 2 PM. As the kids got older, we stayed longer. They enjoyed the rides at night, with all the bright lights.
I don't remember EVER seeing any drunks at the Fair and I've been there until closing, many times. There is no alcohol allowed. There is also lots of police around...undercover, as well. Our State Fair is totally family friendly!
Given your kids ages and that they are not THAT into rides, I would suggest you bypass Trinity Road and enter Gate 2 from Hillsborough Street. There is a pay lot right across (where the sawmill is usually). The reason I recommend this is that Gate 9 on the Trinity side is near the biggest part of the midway (there are kinda two ride areas one near Gate 9, one on the other side that is smaller...long story), and almost all the way from the agricultural stuff. We like rides okay now, but we are most into the FREE fun stuff.
Here is what we usually do, or at least when the kids were more your kids age. Go in Gate 2, Take your immediate left into the poultry building and see all the crazy chickens and turkeys (kinda smelly, but just breeze through and point). At the end are the NCSU Poultry students who have an exhibit with live baby ducks and chickens that the kids can hold. My kids STILL love this.
When you come out the other side (wash your hands!) , you will be at the back side of the Jim Graham bldg. THis is where the cows are. They have gotten very restrictive about access to this building (you used to just wander through) so you may have to walk around. The Jim Graham building has cows and the Kelly building next to it has sheep and goats. My kids love to walk through and ooh and ahh over them all. FYI - The Jim Graham Builiding also has some of the least busy bathrooms, historically.
The Exposition Center is a new building that houses an assortment of animals for viewing (for those that don't want to spend time in JG and Kelly, but still want to see animals. We were just there tonight and there is even a HUGE braham bull and tiny calf. Mother pig and calfs, etc. This is also where the biggest pumpkin and other vegetable winners are. And the bee display, AND most importantly, the place where your kids can milk a cow (and get NCSU milk after!). The JG, Kelly and Expo center also have rings where they have the animal show/competitions. My fav part of the fair. We love making family bets on which cute kid and her goat are going to win.
Ohh, I almost forgot. When you come out of Jim Graham to the right, is the BRIGHT ORANGE mini-donut trailer. Stop, watch the little donuts float down the hot oil, flip, and pop into cinnamon sugar....mmmmmm......
Take a left out of the Expo center and you can take a sharp left down through the longest row of games at the fair (yuk) to some rides (toward gate 5). The tall swings are down there....which is the only reason we go. I think the big slide is down there too.
If you don't go down that way, keep the turkey shoot on your left (yes, just target shooting, the jaycees deliver the turkeys later). And take a left when you hit a dead end. Down towards Village of Yesteryear. On your left is the rabbit house, which is kinda fun, across from the rabbit house are the craft displays (not that exciting, but my kids love the "faberge" eggs and the lego contests. Right next to the rabbit house are the Roast Corn place and the Strawberry shortcake place. There are lots of corn places, but this is the best. Friends rave about the shortcake...I am not a big shortcake fan. But the HUGE STRAWBERRY on top of the booth is a good landmark. Continue on past and stop into the Village of Yesteryear. Go in there and see lots of great NC craft, including much being made right there.
Go back out the entrance and continue on down that same route, there will be a vintage farm machinery display,which is worth a look. At the bottom of the hill is Heritage Circle. We love this spot. There is usually bluegrass playing. You can see a blacksmith, a tabacco barn with curing tabacco, watch cider being pressed (it is SOOO good, they usually have it cold or hot). Great kettle corn. There are a couple of hidden gems here. If you are standing facing the cider place, to your left, past the blacksmith, is the garden displays. These are very quiet and relaxing to walk through. There is also amazing pumpkin carving. Another hidden gem, that i am not sure is still there (check the app!) is the bird booth. If you walk kinda to the right behind the cider booth, and back around, there is a club that has a table of exotic birds back there. They usually let you hold the birds. Very cool.
Walking back out of Heritage village, take a left (towards Gate 8...which is a LONG WALK to get to....my least favorite gate) and you will quickly see the grist mill. It is very cool to see the workings of the mill, if your kids like machines and engineering, and the hush puppies are yummy (and you can buy the local meal from them).
At this point, if you are not DONE, you can walk back up the hill, whence you came, and immerse yourself into the thick of it. When you get back up past the rabbits, etc you will not want to go right towards Jim Graham, but walk forward a bit more. I recommend you stop at Pittsboro Kiwanis and get a ham biscuit and right next door to Blanchards peanust and get some "salted in the shell" or "boiled" peanuts if you want to immerse yourself in all things southern. Walk a bit more, past the Dorton arena and take a right past the arena. On your left, fairly quickly will be the kid rides, if you are interested. If not, the root beer booth is near the kids rides (very very yummy) and the NC Pork Producers Chop Shop is THE place for REAL NC BBQ or a pork loin sandwich.
At this point, you can keep circling to the right around Dorton and head back to Gate 2 and your car.
Understand that you will miss a big part of the fair...but it is just rides and booths..
But if you want more....
Educational and Commercial bldgs -lots of nonprofit and booths sellling you things. Get a 25 cent Mt Olive pickle! The maple cotton candy is great. In the education building, though, are the winners of the food contests and sewing contests, and cake decoration, etc. etc. Also, you HAVE to get each kid weighed at the huge scale by the door (NC office of standards or somesuch). For some reason, my kids demand this. If you walk out this door, straight ahead, past the kids roller coaster, is the Kerr scott building. Famous for having the art display from all the schools and local artist, as well as boths by vendors, law enforcement, etc. You kids can have a field day with stickers. But you can also get wonderful honey cotton candy, and taste Neese's liver pudding and souse if you haven't, or if your kids won't let you have it in the house(yay to liver pudding, yuck to souse...and I'm southern).
If you want to brave it through the crowds in the big midway between this spot and Gate 9, I agree with everyone that the pig races are a hoot and worth seeing.
Omigosh this is crazy long. But I can tell you that, besides the food, most of the stuff I have recommended are FREE!!!!
But yes, if going Sunday, be there when the doors open. Leave when it starts to get crowded.
I will shut up now. Clearly had too many mini-donuts at the fair today....and am a BIG FAN.
Just got back from the fair after a ten-year hiatus, and it has expanded quite a bit from what I remember. We got there just as it opened and were able to park right across the street from Gate 9, which was handy. I don't do rides, so we mostly checked out the exhibits and ate stuff. Look around and compare different places before you settle on anything; I had a corn dog at a booth not far from the gate, but when I ventured further into the fairgrounds, I found one twice as big for the same price. Of course, I ate 'em both. As a gardener, I really enjoyed the garden exhibits. That area has expanded quite a bit as well, and is a great place to go if you get tired of the crowds and noise. All in all, we had a great time, and I'm looking forward to next year.
seeing the animals at the petting zoo (which I doubt they will have this year after the disease outbreak last year, even though it didn't come from there)
Petting zoo is still there according to the State Fair app.
Definitely get NC State ice cream! Made on campus, served by Food Science students, price reasonable and big portions. And, most of all, yummy!!!
Ugh don't wait in that line unless you plan on getting there at 9am and eating it for breakfast. You can get the exact same ice cream year-round at DH Hill Library or Talley Student Center without having to wait in a 45 minute line. I do agree it's delicious though.
Ugh don't wait in that line unless you plan on getting there at 9am and eating it for breakfast. You can get the exact same ice cream year-round at DH Hill Library or Talley Student Center without having to wait in a 45 minute line. I do agree it's delicious though.
Yeah, you can instead drive around NCSU for 45 minutes to find a place to park!
Petting zoo is still there according to the State Fair app.
Yes, the rest of the livestock, for the livestock showings, cannot be petted but the specific "petting zoo" is still there and "pettable".
As ar as parking, etc, look into take a Park n Ride bus! No hassles with parking at all, and they drop you right at the gate. If you kids don't take city buses much, they might see that as an "adventure" of its own!
The Fair has expanded so much since my annual-going years (30 years ago) that I almost lost my bearings last year with the THREE different Midways not counting the Kiddie one. For old-timers, they've torn down where the "Hell Drivers" used to be and put another Midway there in addition to the "old" one and the newer "not as old" one that goes by the Graham building. And now they charge for the Dorton concerts (used to be free).
Definitely pick a time/day of week that's not so crowded--of course people-watching is one of the highlights of the fair, seeing whom you run into that you know (which I guess won't be an issue for OP if you just moved here), and watching people on rides. I love to watch the little kids on the kid roller coasters, and I don't even like kids usually. But if you go on a weekend, it can be so crowded, you risk losing some of your group which can be very scary for kids (I still remember being separated from my parents in the crowd for all of 30 seconds as a kid, and in those big crowds, it's completely disorienting and terrifying).
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