North Carolina State Fair

Yet some modernization is necessary. “We have worked extensively in recent years to extend our fiber-op across the property, for example,” says Yelverton, “so that we can make wireless available for our ticketing as well as our customers. The good news of that is that we don’t have to worry about maintaining landlines for our vendors use anymore. But we are in a busy part of Raleigh with a lot of competition for bandwidth and for cell service, so we have to constantly work with cell providers and other providers to have the best service that we can have. We have had portable cell towers on site and we have upgraded our fiber pipeline through the property, to increase that fiber distribution across all of our major facilities. So, in any of our facilities that a promoter would come in and lease, we can provide the high-speed internet that they need for commerce. But also our users - particularly our corporate users, which is a growing segment of our business - demand the high tech audio-visual capabilities; the ability to come in and put on whatever kind of presentation they need for the audience that they are here to serve, as well.” The Fairgrounds are also trying to be green and sustainable. They have a robust recycling program through their waste provider, recycling over 7,000 tons of co-mingled recycled materials per year. They also recycle over 10,000 gallons of fryer oil, a lot of that during the annual fair. One of its HVAC systems in the buildings runs on B20 soy-based diesel, as do the carnival rides at the fair. And last but not least, the facility has moved from branded plastic to recycled paper cups. “All of this being said, the Annual State Fair is certainly our largest event and our largest revenue generator,” says Yelverton. “As a division of the Department of Agriculture, it is an agricultural fair, so we have a very large livestock show. And we also have the largest assembly of portable amusement rides in North America at right around 100. We have a million visitors over 11 days and on weekends we have in excess of 150,000 visitors to our Fairgrounds. So, we really become one of