'); } -->
Get ready for the 2009 N.C. State Fair! We just couldn't wait until the fair starts on Oct. 15 to begin reporting on its annual 10-days of statewide competitions, thrilling rides and everything fried on a stick.
In this blog, we'll touch base with some of you who are already baking up that blue ribbon cake or polishing the hooves on your champion steer. We'll also keep you up-to-date on what's going to be new and different about the fair this year.
As a weight guesser, Mike Caron knows that loose lips will get you socked in the gut — esepecially when the customer is on the portly side.
So he's always careful to ask, "Do you want me to guess out loud, or write it down?" It's a professional precaution. Nobody wants the whole midway to know the weight-guesser thinks you're a porker.
"I got hit once," Caron said. "Now I ask."
But flattering patter always works — even when it's a tad flirtatious. As he hands an inflatable baseball bat to a winning mother and her toddler, he jokes, "My guidance counselor was wrong. Women pay me to look at them."