Well the day has come where the State Fair has officially ended and while that saddens me, I am also very excited and happy that history was made and I was there to be a part of it. Yesterday afternoon the North Carolina State Fair had its one-millioneth visitor. What an exciting event and milestone for our state and its history. I am proud to say that not only was in I attendance and on the fairgrounds when that happened, but I also had a spectacular year at the Fair myself -- going each day with some incredible friends & family, entering in competitions and eating foods I never thought I'd do before. This year I truly celebrated what was great. Sure the Fair itself was awesome but being able to spend time with those you love to be with and share in excitements, laughs, and new adventures is what made the experience great. And even though I didn't attend every single day, I came close enough. I'm proud of my Honorable Mention Ribbon for my scrapbook entry; I'm really proud of my State Fair Adventurer Ribbon; and have now been deemed by one of our clients as the State Fair Doctor. Below are some pictures from the last three days and a few recaps in between. I'll miss you NC State Fair but I'll see you soon (next year October 13th thru the 23rd!)
Each day I had to go by and check on the "status" of our incredible watermelons. On Friday the 22nd, Phyllis snapped this picture of the 4th place watermelon; the one to the left is 1st place -- what happened to 2nd and 3rd place you may ask? Well as the little space in between says "they weren't feeling well so they had to go but they enjoyed their experience" -- needless to say those two watermelons (and 6th place, too) weren't able to make it thru the whole Fair experience and ended up "popping". So I kept going back to see if 1st and 4th would last (fortunately they did!)
For FOUR of my TEN days at the State Fair, my sis was able to come along with me -- I think that set a record for her (and she doesn't even like going!) Friday the 22nd, we went over before we went to Steven's (her sons) football game. The weather was good and we had a great time playing some games and just seeing sights.
On Saturday (the record setting attendance day with over 150,000 visitors!!), Julie & I went over mid-afternoon and took her kids Chase & MaKayla. We had a lot of fun with them riding the ponies, eating hot dogs, seeing the animals, and riding some rides. I enjoyed spending some time with these little cuties! MaKayla is the little one whom I did my ribbon winning scrapbook entry on. So that was neat to show it to Julie in person!
Later that evening, Julie & I were joined at the Fair by Phyllis (and eventually Dwayne & Steven after they got out of traffic). We had tickets to see Darius Rucker and were so glad that Phyllis was able to join us. Darius did an AMAZING show at the Fairgrounds and it was well worth the cost. AND to top it all off, our seats were on the FOURTH ROW from the stage. How awesome!!
After the concert, I got some Deep Fried Oreos (ack!) and then we met up with Dwayne & Steven and watched the fireworks. Once they were over, we all headed towards our vehicles (not before the girls stopped over for pretzels!) and then we ended the night at Krispy Kreme (well, they did ... I ended up laying down in the back of the car trying not to puke!)
Sadly, the last day of the Fair had to arrive and I was none too excited for it to go. I still was suffering from my "Fair hangover" at church on Sunday morning but after church, Mom, Dad & I ventured over to the fairgrounds. Where I was giving goodbye hugs to everyone, even the pigs.
We covered the entire fairgrounds one last time on Sunday, and even after going 10 days, I managed to go to some places yesterday that I hadn't been to during the week. I willingly went to the Folk Festival and Bluegrass shows with Mom & Dad; even ventured in the Village of Yesteryear. It was a very long day but a lot of fun! Here are some of my farewell shots ...
I already miss the fair.... Glad you were able to go so much!
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