RALEIGH, N.C. — The tradition of tobacco continues for its 20th year at the State Fair as teams gathered to compete for the title of best tobacco loopers, or stringers, depending on what part of the state they’re from.
What You Need To Know
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Tobacco Barn at the State Fair
The tobacco stringing competition brings together novice competitors and returning champions
Volunteers help fill the Tobacco Barn in Heritage Circle where the tobacco is cured during the fair and then auctioned off in a mock auction at the end of the fair
Every year the tobacco stringing competition draws quite the crowd at the State Fair, and this year marks two decades of demonstrating how tobacco used to be stored and dried. Today, machines harvest and pack the tobacco, but this nod to what was and still is such an essential part of North Carolina's agriculture economy is always a hit.
“A lot of the displays here at the fair are sort of static displays, but this is actually a hands-on event that we're doing it the way we used to do it 50 years ago, it's sort of living history really,” Ken Jones, a hander for the Maple Hill Loopers said.
Ken and Sandy Jones are two competitors who have been a part of the State Fair’s tobacco stringing family from the very beginning and are chasing their tenth title this year. Crowds gathered to cheer on returning favorites, like the Jones’ and their teammate and son-in-law Michael Sunday.
“So you're judged on number of bundles, the height of the stems off of the stick, how even the bundles are across the stick, neatness, tightness and then time,” Ken Jones said.
Teams must make perfect loops of tobacco, lash them together and string them on a pole which would typically be hung in a barn to cure. The finished stick of tobacco is then inspected by judges. The team with the fastest time and best stick overall wins.
The Maple Hill Loopers managed to pull it out once again and were crowned this year’s tobacco stringing state champions with a record time for their team of 57 seconds.
Years ago, stringing tobacco was considered an art form. The better looking the stick, the higher the price.
“So back in the day, also, the tobacco was handled much more carefully, we never lost a leaf, even in the fields or in the barn. It was money,” Ken Jones said.
“You took pride in your work because daddy said, 'If a stick falls out of the barn, it'll catch the barn on fire,'” Sandy Jones added.
But small tobacco family farms are a rare find today, and because of that, this nod to what once was is extra sweet. It’s less about the competition for Sandy and Ken and more about the history.
“Farm life was very communal,” Ken Jones said. “And we lose a lot of that today. It just brings back warm memories of family and farm and community.”
All the sticks of tobacco were hung in the Tobacco Barn in Heritage Circle to cure throughout the duration of the fair. They will hold a mock tobacco auction at the Tobacco Pavilion Friday afternoon.
