A decades-old booth is in new hands at the NC State Fair. What’s new, what’s the same

A decades-old booth that celebrates North Carolina’s “cultural history” officially ushers in a new generation of vendors during this year’s NC State Fair.

For more than 30 years, fairgoers have been sipping on fresh apple cider — hot, cold or frozen — from the rustic, cabin-like cider booth in the fairgrounds’ Heritage Circle.

From the mid-1980s until partway through last year’s State Fair, the booth had been run by longtime vendors Jouard and Susan Lingg. The Linggs retired last year, creating a need for a new vendor to take over the booth.

The Linggs found those new vendors in Trey Enloe and his wife, Melissa, of Bright Branch Farm in Hendersonville.

The Linggs and the Enloes ran the booth in tandem last year, with the Enloes officially taking over about midway through the fair.

“We met Susan and Jouard a few years ago, and kind of built that relationship,” Trey Enloe told The News & Observer before the fair started last week. “Last year we learned from Jouard that they were trying to retire, and we figured that would be a perfect fit for us.”

This year’s fair, which runs through Oct. 23, will be the first full year with the new generation of vendors at the helm.

“We’re very honored that they chose us and let us kind of take over the mantle for them,” Enloe said. “I know that’s a big decision.”

Fifth-generation apple farmer

While the Enloes are fairly new to running the cider booth at the fair, they’re no strangers to growing apples and making cider.

Trey Enloe is a fifth-generation apple farmer at his family’s Bright Branch Farm, where he works with his dad and uncle to cultivate about 50 varieties of apples on about 120 acres of land, he told the State Fair.

The farm started producing apple juice on a commercial scale about six years ago, Enloe told The N&O. They press juice for hard cider brands throughout the state and the Southeast. Using the farm’s equipment, they can press as much as 4,000 gallons of cider each day.

The Enloes’ experience and ability to press juice on that scale helped them ensure the cider they’ll be offering at the fair is as fresh as possible, Trey Enloe said.

“It’s all made from fresh apples we grow and press,” he said. “So I press it prior to coming down here, and then it’s about as fresh as it can get, ready for all the local folks.”

What’s the same, what’s different with the new vendors

Longtime fairgoers and eagle-eyed fans of the cider booth may notice slight changes to the booth this year with the Enloes now in charge, but aside from some new signage, “things look pretty much the same,” Trey Enloe said.

“We know there’s a long tradition there, so we didn’t want to mess things up,” he said. “We wanted to keep things as similar as we could.”

But the Enloes also “wanted to add our own feel to it,” he said.

In addition to the new signage, cup sizes for the cider will also be slightly bigger under the Enloes, at 12 ounces per pour.

While the cider sold at the booth was pressed ahead of the fair, Enloe will also offer smaller-scale cider-pressing demonstrations for fairgoers at the booth daily, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. He said he may also offer evening demonstrations “if things get a little calmer” at that point in the day.

“I think a lot of people lose touch with where their food comes from,” Enloe said. “So I think, you know, anytime you can educate the general public on how things are done, especially something they’re consuming, I think there’s value in that.”

The cider the Enloes pressed for the fair is “a nice blend” of several apple varieties, including Fuji, honeycrisp, Granny Smith, golden delicious and red delicious. It’s a similar blend they used at last year’s fair, though Trey Enloe said he “tweaked it just a little bit.” The cider will be available hot, cold or in a frozen slushie form.

“I think everybody’s gonna be really happy with it,” he said.

More information about the NC State Fair

▪ You can learn more about the fairgrounds’ Heritage Circle and the exhibits offered there at ncstatefair.org/2022/Attractions/Heritage-Circle.htm.

▪ You can find all of The N&O’s State Fair coverage at newsobserver.com/ncstatefair.

This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 12:16 PM with the headline "A decades-old booth is in new hands at the NC State Fair. What’s new, what’s the same."

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.