For many people, the State Fair is a fun time for friends, family, rides, fried foods and candied apples, but for N.C . State, it’s much more.
The 2011 State Fair lasted 11 days, from Oct. 13-23, and had 1,009,173 visitors. For some professors and students, the State Fair is an opportunity to extend their research and education to the general public. Walt Wolfram, associate professor in the English department and director of the North Carolina Language and Life project, had a booth on North Carolina dialects, and David Tarpy , associate professor in the entomology department, had a booth on bees and beekeeping.
“As a land-grant institution, I think it helps us connect with the public in a really concrete way. So people come up, they tell us dialect stories. They sit down, and they tell us words that they know,” Wolfram said. “In one respect, we can’t show you the record-breaking pumpkin, but we can sort of demonstrate how culturally rich North Carolina is in terms of its dialect heritage.”
Wolfram had student volunteers working the booth and said most are very enthusiastic about being there and having a chance to talk to many different people. He said this excitement brings a public energy to campus and inspires people to do more public education programs.
Tarpy’s beekeeping booth worked as part of a larger community display with apiary (bee yard) inspection division services.
“This is a great collaborative venture that we have to volunteer and educate the mass public about bees and beekeeping, so our component is relatively small. We, in essence, support the apiary inspection service in their effort to put all that on,” Tarpy said. “I think it’s this collaborative relationship with the Department of Agriculture, and working in tandem on bettering beekeeping in the state on many different levels… so it’s a central and important annual event.”
Tarpy also had students volunteer at the booth, and members of the N.C . State Entomology Department helped judge the honey and hive products in the State Fair competitions.
Through faculty-run booths and student volunteers, N.C . State is able to extend its research and education to the general public in addition to promoting the University by association.
“The State Fair has a very long and close connection to N.C . State….The State Fair really began as an exhibition for agriculture, and N.C . State has a long history of agriculture,” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Thomas Stafford said.
Stafford added that with a location so close to campus and with people coming from all over the state to visit, many may decide to come over and visit campus.
Since the State Fair is one of the top attractions in North Carolina, it is a great opportunity for students, faculty and staff to interact with the general public on a level they may not have access to normally.
“So they come to ride the rides, but maybe they’re walking around the agricultural booths…or they see the fact that our food science people are the ones judging contests, and just little different things that any time you can put your name out there the better, because that audience is not necessarily looking for N.C . State or looking for any university in general,” Wood said, “and just kind of ‘Oh that’s who does this and that’s who does that. Oh, and they’re just down the street. Let’s drive through and see what it looks like.'”
Held during the State Fair every year, NCSU’s Open House on Oct. 15 brought in more than 8,000 visitors, according to Stacy Fair, director of the E. Carroll Joyner Visitor Center, although she says the date has more to do with convenience, application deadlines and high school fall breaks than the presence of the State Fair.
“Open House, because it’s for prospective students, we always want to have it at a time when it’s optimal for them to visit and a lot of folks come to the fair anyway, but then we also look at when the SAT and ACT are being held,” Nicole Wood, director of communication, said.
“All those factors fall into place, and it makes for a good turn out at the event,” Fair added.
