There was excitement in the air when the deep-throated announcer, sporting a NASCAR jacket and pitch-perfect twang, raised his microphone Saturday night to announce the start of competition.
An over-capacity crowd spilled out of the arena, craning their necks to see over those who came an hour early and staked out the riser seats.
"This is the wildest billygoat race in town!" the announcer bellowed.
So Hogway Speedway-a track that hosts contests for three sizes of pigs and geese-is not exactly a typical stock car race. But then nothing at the 139th North Carolina State Fair, running through Oct. 22 in Raleigh, can be described as ordinary.
Where else can you buy fake designer sunglasses and 40-inch necklaces with blinging dollar signs charms, and then wander next door to a booth hawking "The Bible in Drama: Your Child's Alternative to Television"? Is there another place where you can take a sauna for a 30-minute test run and then quench your thirst with a 50-cent cup of milk?
More than 147,000 people visited the fair Friday and Saturday, said Jennifer Nixon, the fair's public information officer.
"The attendance is down from last year, but we're still right along track with our average numbers," Nixon said. "There have no been no major problems, so we're happy."
Inside the fair's Expo Center, families gathered close and looked at goats, cows and other farm animals-a slice of good, clean Americana.
Of course, right above the cute lambs and steers were signs displaying the prices the animals fetched at an auction earlier Saturday. Sold for $10,000 to Harris Teeter, for example. Or for a few thousand more to Martin Meats.
The North Carolina State Fair pulls no punches.
"Him right there-that's gonna be my prime rib dinner," one woman said with a smile.
She was pointing to a lamb. Perhaps "lamb chop" would have been more accurate, but point taken.
Most of the dinners enjoyed at the fair, however, are in the present tense, not the future. Anyone who goes home hungry is either broke or on a diet.
Ostrich quesadillas, gigantic turkey legs, alligator on a stick, five-course steak dinners for under ten dollars-true culinary diversity.
One stand with a long line was upfront about its intentions. "We buffalo anything!" a giant sign proclaimed.
Surveys have consistently shown that food is the fair's top draw, Nixon explained.
"The big rave this year is the fried Coca-Cola," she said. "It's Coca-Cola put into a batter and fried with coke syrup added on top."
Freshman Grady Slane passed on the fried dough, fried pickles and fried pierogies in favor of a fried Snickers bar.
"I felt sick to my stomach afterward, but it was good," he said. He added that he enjoyed himself, anyway-particularly the fireworks and Tiny Tim, the world's smallest horse.
"I mean, he wasn't as small as I thought he would be," Slane said with a laugh.
And for just one more dollar, fairgoers could see Sampson, the world's largest horse, just a few feet away.
Still, the most popular animals were racing for cheese doodles at the Hogway Speedway in front of the sold-out crowd.
Cheering on #24, Piggy Gordon, one fan screamed, "I like bacon!"
Another spectator tried to keep #88 in high spirits after a tough loss.
"Hoggy Jarrett, we still love you!"
Only at the North Carolina State Fair.
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