2010 Dates have been selected!!!

Mark your calendars now to make sure you join us May 21, 22 and 23, 2010 for the third annual Got to be NC Festival. We'll be back with more food and wine in the Food and Wine Expo (and a new wine garden), more BBQ for sale, more food vendors, more fiber arts and crafts supplies, more music and more of the great things that make North Carolina such a special place.

Thank you for a great festival

What a tremendous time we had last weekend! If you missed it, all I've gotta say is don't miss it in 2010!!! We had about 85,000 folks in the festival over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The rides were full, the food vendors hopping and folks were having a great time. Thanks for coming and we'll see you next year!

The lawn mowers are kicking up dirt on the track!

There's still time to take in the mud-slinging fun that is lawn mower racing at the Got to Be NC Festival! It runs until 9 p.m. in the Sam Rand Grandstand at the state fairgrounds.

Countdown to the racing lawn mowers!

There's just three hours until the 1 p.m. start time of the lawn mower races and a quick look around shows the drivers seem more than ready to get racing. Some of the modified mowers are still being unloaded and they are attracting a fair amount of attention.

One festival goer inquired, "Who in the world ever thought about racing lawn mowers?"

The inside skinny according to one of the drivers for Zero Tolerance Racing is that the idea to race lawn mowers got its start in Britain -- in a pub. That explanation drew a few chuckles.

The mowers are truly lawn mowers, just souped up to reach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour or more. That's right, 60 miles per hour. The racers take safety precautions -- helmets, chest protector vests, fire-retardant racing suits, etc. Today's races are sanctioned by the American Racing Mower Association, and drivers will be competing for trophies and points toward the national championship.

You will see a variety of lawn mowers competing, some newer models, some older models. They are shorter than a regular mower, lowered to just 4 inches off the ground in order to compete. Many of the tractors have special lettering and flame designs meant to inspire and maybe intimidate other racers. One mower sports the name, "The Reaper."

The fun begins in the Sam Rand Grandstand at 1 p.m. Tickets are $5. Come check out the races!

Hogs spotted at the fairgrounds

Hogs roared across the fairgrounds this morning as a huge group of Harley-Davidsons entered the Dorton Arena for the motorcycle show at the Got to Be NC Festival. I stopped by the arena to check out the show featuring close to 100 motorcycles. There were big bikes and small bikes, but what caught my eye was a personalized license plate that said MYHONOR.


I took some time to inspect the other plates. Here are some of my favorites:

CDEUCER
GO2JAIL
BLKBUTY
QUIK
CHILIN’ 1
CHILIN’ 2

Let us hear from you. What personalized license tags have you seen? What are your favorites? See you at the fairgrounds.

Friday footage of the Got to Be NC Festival

Here's a short video montage of Friday's activities at the Got to be NC Ag Festival:

Foodie Find at the Got to Be NC Festival: Deep Fried Pizza

While exploring all of the action at the Got to Be NC Festival, we discovered a new favorite treat that we hope will also be at the State Fair — deep fried pizza from Blue Diner Grille!

This tasty treat is dipped and battered in Italian breading, fried to perfection and served with some spicy ranch sauce. It has a very satisfyingly warm and cheesy center with bits of pepperoni throughout.

Check out this video as Firecracker, Flying Bob and Green Thing taste test our first deep fried pizza.

A big thanks to the folks at the Blue Diner Grille, located in front of the Food & Wine Expo in the Expo Building, for letting us taste test, and report on, their new deep fried creation.

And enjoy the comedy of the World’s Strongest Redneck in the background.