The North Carolina State Fair is a big deal for me.
A really big deal.
I plan much of my summer around the crochet I will enter in the state fair competitions, and I spend many afternoons in the dog days of August out on my back deck in preparation.
In fact, I had already been keeping an online vigil waiting for the 2011 North Carolina Premium Book and was delighted when I checked in this morning and found that the premium book with all of its categories was finally published.
After a quick look, I can see that the categories have been shaken up a bit. Gone is Department Y, section 10331 for afghans made from variegated yarn, but a category for lap afghans/prayer shawls has been added. Additionally, the baby afghan category has been expanded to include a one-color category, and a two or more color category.
I will have to read through the premium book carefully to figure out how I can participate as fully as possible, and now that the state fair season is officially upon me, I decided to get my 2010 North Carolina State Fair pictures uploaded to my flickr account and cleared off my SD card before the 2011 North Carolina State Fair opened.
When I attend the fair, the first thing I do is take a picture of is my parking space number. After one year where I spent almost as much time looking for my car as I did looking at things at the fair, I decided to document my parking space for easy reference:
Once inside the fairgrounds, my first stop is an exhibit area known as “Village of Yesteryear” which has a variety of artisans displaying the traditional crafts they make.
One of my perennial favorites is the braided rugs:
Another that captivated me were these Ukrainian Eggs courtesy of Kit Lennon:
From the Village of Yesteryear, I traverse the fairgrounds to the Education Building where many of the handcrafts are displayed. This past year, my afghan did not place, but my psychedelic circle jacket did well:
And while my afghan did not place, there was plenty to see. These two floral motif afghans did well:
as did this sampler afghan:
and this crocheted version of a traditional log cabin quilting pattern:
Hungry and in need of both celebration and commiseration, I headed back to the midway and the annual array of deep-fried foods:
One of the 2010 North Carolina State Fair food oddities was this Krispy Kreme burger:
I, however, held out for my usual fair of funnel cakes:
In the next week, I will look over this year’s competition categories for the 2011 State Fair, and begin the work of setting my crochet schedule for the next
I know have a smaller understanding of what goes on at a state fair, we have nothing even remotely like that over here. Can’t wait to see what you decided to produce this year.
What an amazing post! I live in the Netherlands so know nothing about state fairs, but reading your message was like experiencing it and almost being there!
Ps. Congratulations on your winning jacket! It looks amazing and deserved the #1 spot!
Your state fairs look a lot like our city shows. Each city has its own show with craft, show jumping, animals and vendors of all kinds showing their wares. The larger the city, the larger the show with the most predominant being the Royal Easter Show in Sydney and the Melbourne Show. I have entered a few pieces in the Royal Canberra Show but since we have moved I will be entering my craft in the Albury Show.
I’ve never entered anything at any level. Not even COUNTY level, so it impresses me so much that you enter at State level. Your photos are gorgeous. The Minnesota State Fair is pretty huge and impressive. I’ll have to take some photos if we get to it this year. I haven’t really attended the past few years.
I’ve never been to Wisconsin’s because of the drive. We’re much closer to Minnesota’s.
@Keri if I still lived in a county that HAD a county fair, I would certainly enter my work, but I live in Wake County, and it’s the state fair or nothing. I found out that Florida has their county fairs in the spring, and I am still trying to figure out how to do a county fair tour of Florida.