“Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton greeted me as I entered the N.C. State Fair this past Saturday. By 10 a.m., the place was already booming with activity.
To me, the fair is a quintessential part of North Carolina’s culture. Where else could you go and get a deep-fried Kit Kat, smell the vinegar-based barbecue air and see so many vibrant colors that your eyes almost hurt?
In addition to the classic state fair fare, there were also local artisans in the Village of Yesteryear. Artists were selling their work, massive pumpkins brought fall aura and watermelons weighing hundreds—sometimes thousands—of pounds were being shown off by farmers from across the country. Those parts of the fair were equally important to the overall experience.
Food
Fluffy’s Donuts was a standout. The flavors ranged from classics to flavors like banana cream pie and PB&J. I ordered the strawberry lemonade donut, which was the donut of the day, and it was worth the $10. It was definitely sweet, but with how fluffy their donuts are, it didn’t weigh me down like donuts sometimes do.
Another standout was the country ham biscuit from the Pittsboro Kiwanis Club, which was only $4. I enjoyed the appropriately buttery biscuit paired with the thick cut of salty ham.
As the day wore on and it began getting hotter, I stopped by Tiki Tea and got a blue raspberry iced tea. I was not expecting much, as I went for that flavor, as I had never seen blue raspberry in the same category as iced tea, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well the flavors went together.
After my blue raspberry tea, I went back and got just plain sweet tea for my drive home. It was not Bojangles, but the tea was refreshing and tasted just fine.
