with her pennies all spent….

Written by Eleanor Farjeon, this poem chronicles the adventures of a girl named Jill who takes a trip to the fair.

Today, my youngest son and I had our own fair inspired adventures as we finally made our annual trek to the North Carolina State Fair and had our own adventures.

Today was Hunger Relief Day, an annual event sponsored by Food Lion. In exchange for four items of canned food, you can a ticket to enter the North Carolina State Fair. So canned goods in hand, we headed to the fairgrounds.

Once we arrived, we parked by the RBC Center, home of the Carolina Hurricanes and free parking for the state fair.

And, as always, the first thing we did upon getting out of the car was to photograph the number of our parking space:

(This can be an invaluable tool when it is time to leave.)

We then wended our way across the fairgrounds past the signs for flu shots, the recycle bins, the rides, the games, and the ubiquitous deep-fried foods until we reached the exhibition hall.

Once inside, we made our way past the myriad exhibits and headed straight for the quilts and afghans. The afghan I entered this year did not get a ribbon of any kind, but I did get to see it on display:

My psychedelic sweater did decidedly better and managed to garner a blue ribbon:

Once my son and I had completed our tour of the exhibition hall, we ventured back out to the midway and the fried confections. After walking what seemed an endless loop, we finally found a booth selling his favorite deep-fried confection (a Snickers bar) as well as a funnel cake for me.

And for anyone who seriously pursues the art of amigurumi, I offer this photo of the Krispy Kreme Burger for your crochet inspiration: