NC State Fair 2022: Here’s where you can snag some free food inside the fairgrounds

Between tickets, food, rides and more, a trip to the North Carolina State Fair can quickly add up to an expensive experience.

To help you save a few bucks on your trip this year, we have some hacks on where to find free food samples throughout the fairgrounds, from hushpuppies to peanuts and more.

Here’s how to get free food at the 2022 N.C. State Fair.

Note: In this guide, we’ve included booths and areas of the fairgrounds that have typically offered free food in years past. We’ll update the story after the fair starts to include any new spots we find that are offering free food at this year’s fair.

Where to get free hushpuppies at NC State Fair

▪ If you enter the fair through Gate 8, one of the first things you might see is a long line spilling out of the Grist Mill next to the Fairgrounds’ pond and Heritage Circle.

Some are likely there for a free hushpuppy sample, made fresh and given out to fairgoers who pass through the mill. (You can also take a quick walk through the mill and see how it works after you get your hushpuppy.)

▪ Previously, House Autry, a Four Oaks, North Carolina-based company, has offered free hushpuppies at its booth in the Commercial and Education buildings, located by Kiddieland and Gate 12.

This year, however, the company will not offer hushpuppies, fair officials told The News & Observer — making the Grist Mill the only location to get the free sample.

Where to get free peanuts at NC State Fair

Also in the Commercial and Education buildings, there’s typically a vendor that will offer a free peanut in the shell as you pass by their booth. Bags of peanuts are also for sale there.

Where to get free local food samples at the NC State Fair

A plethora of free food and drink samples can be found at the Got to Be NC Agriculture Pavilion, located this year at Dorton Arena.

The pavilion will be “chock full” of local products from North Carolina producers that will be available for “taste and purchase.” This year’s pavilion, relocated from its typical spot outside of the Kerr Scott Building, is set to be “massive” in scale, the fair says.

Samples offered by producers in previous years have included maple butter, muscadine slushies, peanuts and North Carolina livermush (or liver pudding). A full list of vendors for this year’s Got to Be NC Pavilion will be available at https://bit.ly/ncfairvendors.

The Got to Be NC Pavilion will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 9:45 p.m., except on Thursday, Oct. 13, when the exhibit will open at noon.

This story was originally published October 12, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "NC State Fair 2022: Here’s where you can snag some free food inside the fairgrounds."

Korie Dean

The News & Observer

919-335-8507

Korie Dean covers higher education in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer, where she is also part of the state government and politics team. She is a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill and a lifelong North Carolinian.