Agriculture’s Shining Moment: The N.C. State Fair

Thank you for joining us this Saturday morning.

The 158th North Carolina State Fair kicked off two days ago, and it will run through next weekend. Today we look at the economic and cultural impact of one of North Carolina’s most-loved pastimes. 

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The fair began in 1853 as a means of showcasing North Carolina’s agricultural heritage, a core purpose that continues to this day. 

Despite concerns about Raleigh’s inaccessibility (“particularly [from] those portions where agriculture has achieved its highest perfection,” an 1850s write-up complained), thousands of people paid $0.25 each to enter the 16-acre fairground near Hargett Street that first year. 

The fair has continued ever since, minus a handful of interruptions during wars and pandemics. It has moved locations only twice, settling at its current Blue Ridge Road site in the 1920s. 

The first ride – a “switchback railway” – opened in 1891. It was an unmechanized rollercoaster of sorts, featuring cars that moved along tracks carried by gravity up, down, around, and back again. The first food booths popped up in 1900, and ham biscuits from Cary United Methodist Church arrived in 1916.

Photo taken from “NC State Fair Deep Fried Blog”

Today, families attend the modern fair for the rides, fried food, and the spectacle of it all. But agriculture remains at the heart of the fair. 

“Everything from the biggest pumpkin to the biggest watermelon, the best sweet potatoes, all of that is part of the state fair. And you can actually spend days doing nothing but looking at these exhibits that we have about ag,” Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said recently.

Troxler, who has held office since 2005, sits atop the fair’s hierarchy, just like every Commissioner of Agriculture before him dating back to 1926. (That was the year the Department of Agriculture assumed responsibility from the NC Agriculture Society, which was on the verge of bankruptcy.) This year, the fair comes as agriculture’s annual economic impact in North Carolina was recently estimated to be $117 billion by NC State University. 

It’s the Agriculture Commissioner’s big moment, but the Commissioner of Labor isn’t far behind. The fair has steadily added rides over the decades, finally breaching 100 in the mid-2000s. All of those rides need to be inspected for safety, which falls under the Department of Labor.

“Our motto for every fair is that every ride is inspected, and every family is protected,” Labor Commissioner Luke Farley told the News & Observer at a press event this week.

The department’s inspectors will check every ride multiple times throughout the run. That includes the America 250 Wheel, the world’s largest portable observation wheel. Attendees (at least those without certain phobias) will be able to ride the 230-foot attraction and see panoramic views up to 14 miles. 

Average annual attendance over the past decade clocks in at just under 1,000,000 people, or about 100,000 per day. (That figure excludes 2020, when the fair was canceled due to the pandemic.)

Attendance looks to have plateaued despite North Carolina’s feverish growth. From 2010 to 2017, attendance eclipsed the one million mark five times. It hasn’t exceeded that number since. Perhaps 2026 will change that dynamic, with mild temperatures and full sunshine forecast for next week.

By the end of the run, fair organizers and the 150+ food vendors expect to turn a nice profit. No taxpayer dollars support the fair, which has been self-sustaining for many years. Some small food truck operators have reported they bring in 50% of their annual revenue at the 11-day fair.

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Much has changed since that first crowd paid a quarter to walk the grounds near Hargett Street. The switchback railway has given way to a 230-foot observation wheel, and the handful of food booths have turned into more than 150 vendors. But the fair’s appeal rests on the same foundation it did in 1853: a chance for a fast-growing, increasingly urban state to spend a few days celebrating the farms and families that built it.

The gates are open through next weekend. If you go, take a walk through the agriculture exhibits between the rides and the fried food. As Commissioner Troxler suggests, you could spend days there.