North Carolina Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler joining me now, and the North Carolina State Fair just in the rearview mirror, and oh so close to a million people through the turnstiles.

“The final tally was 998,926, so we were that close. But a million is a number to shoot at. We gave the success of the State Fair my safety first, people enjoying the fair, and those two things were met.”

Now you’ve mentioned safety and fun, but are there some specific highlights of the fair that jump out at you this year?

“Well, they’re always the livestock show and sale is always a highlight and interest in heritage circle area was huge this year. And of course, that’s one of my favorite things about the fair. So it just, you know, it just flowed so smoothly with very few incidents of any kind. It comes down to thanking the highway patrol for the job they did with traffic, with Blue Ridge Road being torn up, and, of course, the concerts, and they did a wonderful job controlling traffic. And then we had law enforcement officers from all across the state on the grounds, and they made sure that there were no, you know, instances of, civil disobedience and that kind of thing. So couldn’t ask for anything better.”

And on Thursday, an awful lot of food raised for the hungry folks in western North Carolina.

“We did. And, you know, I’ve never heard the number, exact number yet, but it was a huge amount of food. And of course, with the need up there, it was great. And we also were raising money through the State Fair. And I know that our ride vendor, Corky Powers, was also raising money for western North Carolina. So couldn’t be any better. I’m tickled when and I’m ready to move on to the next one.”

Other highlights of the 11 days included:

• Setting a new attendance record for a Tuesday when 85,738 came through the gates for Senior Day.
• Seeing record attendance of nearly 2,400 people for the invitation-only Century Family Farm Reunion, a celebration of farms that have been in continuous family ownership for 100 years or more.
• A total of 280,000 meals, or 18 truckloads of food products, were donated during Smithfield Foods Hunger Relief Day. The food collected this year will go to the MANNA Food Bank in Asheville. MANNA’s warehouse was washed away during flooding from Hurricane Helene. The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, the typical recipient of food items during the one-day food drive, chose to send the food collected to MANNA.
• A strong Junior Livestock Sale of Champions with bidders paying $213,000 for the top beef cattle, turkeys, hogs, sheep and goats, plus the top Got to Be NC winners
• Celebrating 20-year anniversaries for the Tobacco Barn in Heritage Circle and the Field of Dreams exhibit near Dorton Arena.
• Attendance for the Got to Be NC Pavilion was up with the number of participating N.C. food companies and fair visitors.
• Marking the first year for the N.C. Stillhouse, featuring North Carolina distilleries sampling and serving craft cocktails.
• Participation by many Western N.C. vendors and crafters, which provided them with sales opportunities during a much-needed time.
• Strong number of competitive entries with 24,514 entries in the general competitions and another 4,067 entries in livestock competitions.

The 2025 N.C. State Fair will be held Oct. 16-26.