Get ready for the 2011 N.C. State Fair! We just couldn't wait until the fair starts on Oct. 13 to begin reporting on its annual 11 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.
The horse show — one of the State Fair's most popular events — will have two new breeds this year. They are Connemara ponies and Welsh ponies.
The Connemara breed is originally from Ireland. These are docile, athletic animals. Welsh ponies are from — you guessed it — Wales.
The State Fair's horse show is one of the largest all-breed horse shows in the nation. It draws riders and horses from across the country.
Thad Ogburn is The N&O's Metro Editor, overseeing most local news reporting. His previous jobs have included editor of North Raleigh News and Features Editor, during which he learned that comics attract more reader response than just about anything else we do. His guilty pleasure is reality TV, which he finds not very real at all. That's assuming, of course, there is room on his DVR amid his daughter's "iCarly" episodes and his wife's daily installments of "One Life To Live."
