North Carolina State Fair

I totally don’t have time to be doing this, and I’ll probably regret it when I’m working frenetically to get a million things done at the last minute, but I just have to get down some of my thoughts about this past weekend.

During the fall orientation for my Killam Fellowship, all the Fulbright Students and Scholars that are/will be doing research in Canada during this academic year were also present. During introductions, one of them, a professor at North Carolina State University (in Raleigh – pronounced Rolly) who will be in Vancouver on her Fulbright next semester, extended an invitation to any Killam wishing to experience the American South; in Raleigh, NC, today is the last of 10 days of the largest state fair in the country...

Friday morning, for $36, I was on a train to Raleigh and when I arrived at 5pm, Toddi was there to pick me up. We went straight to her 125-year-old home, through my stuff in the guest room, and headed off to Durham, NC (the home of Duke University) for a real Southern dinner at a family restaurant. Hushpuppies (fried cornbread), Brunswick Stew (hmmm... tasty corn and bean goop?), string beans, fries, fried chicken, and of course, Bar-B-Que (some sort pork cooked with vinegar and hot sauce), this – and the traditional Southern breakfast I had this morning – reminded lots of what one might find at a family restaurant in rural New Brunswick – and so did the customers’ waistlines.

Saturday was the 6th birthday party of Lina, Toddi and Joe’s daughter. I find, as a uni student, it’s always so nice to be exposed to family life, and putting up balloons and streamers in the morning for the Cinderalla Party was no exception!

After the party, it was time for the fair! I’d never seen any one thing like it before, but it was something like a combination of an amusement park (really big and with some serious rides), a midway (some smaller rides and a rather low-profile atmosphere), a craft fair (lots of craftwork and food), and a zoo (all sorts of farm animals included a cow I had the pleasure of milking!).

A few things I found noteworthy:

-signs with pricing in Spanish and even one guy advertising his little game (e.g. throw darts at balloons and win a prize if you pop one) in Spanish

-mixing of all racialised and socio-economic groups

-a real sense of safety: despite not having any police or guards visible except at the entrance and being so crowded we couldn’t even move in some places, nobody seemed afraid of pick-pocketing or obsessed with keeping their children in sight; like at the ice-cream shop we went to the night before, the sign prohibiting concealed weapons on the way in didn’t really seem necessary

-a significant agricultural connection: farm animals (some that had won prizes and been auctioned off: a $25 000 pig, for example), prize-winning produce (including a pumpkin weighing over 1000 pounds), every kind honey product, a huge exhibit on ethanol and conservation, etc.

-a lot of politics including a booth for the Republicans and one for the Democrats, a pro-life booth, and a peace booth (with a petition to close Guantánamo)

And now, I only have time for one more very important thing: I’d like say a huge thank you to Toddi, Joe and Lina for their incredible kindness and hospitality, for taking time to share their ideas with me, and just for giving me such a fantastic opportunity! Gotta love Americans!