A Preview Of The 2023 North Carolina State Fair With NC State Fair Manager Kent Yelverton

None

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Carolina Podcast Network.I'm Trevor Marini today highlighting the North Carolina
State Fair and I'm excited to talkto the manager of the North Carolina State
Fair, Kent Yelverton, Kent.Welcome, Thank you, Trevor. It's
great to be here. Always loveto come and talk about the North Carolina
State Fair. And it returns Octobertwelve through the twenty second at the North

(00:20):
Carolina State Fairground. So you've gotto be pretty busy this time of year.
It is coming up fast, alot going on. We're checking our
list and getting ready. We've gotcompany coming well. I appreciate you making
time for this. Thank you.And pro tip on tickets, by the
way, get them now because youcan save forty percent if you buy in
advance now online. Right, that'sright now, it's the time to start

(00:41):
planning. First thing to do isbuy your tickets. So such a massive
event, obviously, where do youeven start and how far in advance do
you start planning an event like this? It never stops, so the only
time to see the fair and toplan for future fairs is during the fair.
So actually we start a lot ofour planning once the fair gets open

(01:02):
and running, We'll be walking aroundlooking at things, thinking about things that
we wanted to do for next year, and then it's just continual throughout the
year. That's kind of what Isuspected. Now I'm not alone when I
sent up my favorite part of thefair, at least one of my favorite
parts is the food. And thisis a bit of a tease because we
can't this is under lock and keyright now. The new food coming this

(01:23):
year. But there is a datewhen the new food's going to be announced,
right October fourth, and I wouldlove to come back and talk to
you about that absolute So there's theteas right there. You gotta come back
and listen on the Carolina Podcast NetworkOctober fourth for the new food this year
at the North Carolina State Fair.What else is new that you can talk
about today at the Fair? Sowe have a lot going on this year
as always, but we've got newentertainers. Are some of our grounds entertainment

(01:49):
acts have changed over. We havea rocket the robot coming back. He's
a favorite folks has been going fora few years, but looking forward to
having him back. Dale Jones theone Hand Jugglers coming back. He has
not been to the Fair in severalyears. We have Melody Farm Follies,

(02:10):
a animatronic act on the breezeway betweenGraham Building and the Agras Supply Expo Center.
We also have the Birdman World Classbird shows up in the Forestry area,
so we're looking forward to that aswell. We have a hundred and
fifteen concerts on our two stages,all local, all North Carolina music.

(02:36):
We look forward to that as wellas a lot of competitions. We are
one thing this year we're doing that. We're excited about our Cotton Park,
which is between the Commercial Education Buildingand Dorton Arena. We've given it a
little makeover and we're looking forward todebuting that. Coastal Credit Union has come

(02:57):
on as a sponsor of that andwe have gone in. We've added some
seating, we've added some food vendors. The North Carolina Apartment of Insurance Fire
Safety Show will still be there aswell as Casey, the State Fair mascot,
will make it be making daily appearances. Is that all That's all that's
going on. There's a lot moretoo that you didn't even get to because

(03:19):
let's go back to the food fora second and talking about the competitions that
you brought up. If you needa judge for the Let's get Cheesy Mac
and Cheese challenge, if you needlike a backup judge, I'm just saying
I'll be there forever. I dobelieve that we can make that happen.
All I appreciate it, and let'stalk about all the good that the North
Carolina State Fair does, specifically aMilitary Appreciation Day, Smithfield Foods, Hunger

(03:42):
Relief Days October nineteenth. Talk aboutthose days a little bit and anything else
you want to highlight. Hunger ReliefDay get in free with six cans of
food that will go to the foodbanks of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
One of the largest single day candrives and the state very proud of that,
and it does a lot of goodas well as gift fare. Goers

(04:03):
that opportunity to get in and savea little money as well, feel good
and then go have a lot offun at the North Carolina State Fair.
Another day, we'd like to highlightTrevor as Accessibility to Day. That's the
first Sunday, October fifteenth, fromnine o'clock in the morning until one we
keep the noise and lights down alittle bit, so folks that would enjoy

(04:27):
a period of time that is notquite as intense, that's a great time
for folks to come out. Wehave a chill out zone, but all
of the rides, all of thevendors operate with the volume turned down and
the lights turn load. So wherecan we follow along on social media?
Everywhere? We're on all channels.Also, our website NC State Fair dot

(04:53):
Org a great place to start yourplanning. Go there. Everything you need
to know to plane your day isthere, and then we'll hit tickets again.
You can buy in advance now andyou can save forty percent in advance
when you buy there. Where dowe go for that? So n it's
like a quiz NC State Fair dotOrg for everything. But we will have

(05:15):
in person sales starting at our outletsat Gate nine at the fair, at
the State Farmer's Market, and atthe History Museum downtown. Those sales will
start September the twenty eighth. Wealso have a kiosk at the fairgrounds right
now every weekend on the north sideof Dorton Arena. Can walk up and

(05:36):
buy your tickets there as well.And I just want to hit one more
time. Come back to the CarolinaPodcast Network for the new foods at the
North Carolina State Fair this year,October fourth. Our vendors love the competition
of seeing what they can do tooutdo each other and see what they can
come up with you, and itabsolutely as a fan favorite. I've got

(05:58):
a little bit of a sneak peek. I know there'll be over thirty new
foods this year and some pretty crazyones. I cannot wait to unveil that
with you, October fourth on theCarolina Podcast Network. Can't Yelverton, manager
of the North Carolina State Fair,thanks so much for coming by today.
Thank you, Trevor