The North Carolina State Fair is back and features something for everyone, including food, local music and a wide variety of rides.

What You Need To Know

  • The N.C. State Fair is open from Oct. 17 to Oct. 27

  • There will be over 30 new food vendors for visitors to choose from

  • The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is hosting a scavenger hunt for teachers, students and other fairgoers

From Oct. 17 to Oct. 27, visitors to the fair can get their fill of entertainment, fair rides, family activities, animal shows, vendors and a host of foods, classic and eclectic, to choose from, according to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

The N.C. Sate Fair will host several livestock competitions and programs. (Courtesy of the N.C. State Fair)
The N.C. Sate Fair will host several livestock competitions and programs. (Courtesy of the N.C. State Fair)

The classic fair menu includes corn dogs, funnel cakes and turkey legs. This year, over 30 new food vendors from a “wide range of global cuisines” are bringing 72 new food items for fair visitors to try, officials said.

The new food items include a peach cobbler pizza cone, a warm pizza cone with peach filling and cinnamon crumbles topped with icing from Kono Pizza, a buffalo mac bowl, which has collard greens, macaroni and cheese and grilled buffalo chicken drizzled with buffalo sauce, from Safari Eatz and turducken burgers, a meaty blend of turkey, chicken and duck on hamburger buns from Chick-N-Que.

The fair is also about tradition. The Homegrown Music Fest will return to the N.C. State Fairgrounds for the 10th year. Over 50 artists from around the state will perform at this year’s State Fair.

Thousands of people from across the state visit the N.C. State Fair every year. (Courtesy of the N.C. State Fair)

The artists include county and folk singer-songwriter Kyle Mullins, R&B, Motown and Southern Soul band Miss Mini and the Sandman Band and Lumbee-Tuscarora singer-songwriter Charly Lowry. Visit the Homegrown Music Fest webpage for a list of all performers and their bios.

The N.C. State Fair offers a variety of educational exhibits, including a scavenger hunt sponsored by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, officials said.

The scavenger hunt increases in difficulty from elementary school students to high schoolers. The N.C. State Fair encourages teachers to download the scavenger hunt and bring their students on a field trip to the fair, officials said. All fairgoers can download the scavenger hunt sheets to get in on the action and experience ten educational exhibits along the way.

There are many more attractions and vendors in the N.C. State Fair offered this year. For more information on ticket prices, parking, competitions and attractions, visit the N.C. State Fair webpage.