Pages—Thursday, November 6,2003
J Walking
A City Girl Goes Country
JONELLE KIMBROUGH
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Opinions/Entertainment Editor
1 WO gigiintic teiris wheels, candy
apples, ftum animiils, laughter.., iill are the
sights, smells, and sounds of the North
Carol i«a State Fair.
The Fair, which is held in Riileigh
ever>' fiill, celebrated 150 years with ten
days of iinimals, food, rides, concerts, and
fun. On Sunday, October 26,1 was one of
tlie thousands of f;iir-goers to wiilk tlirough
tlie gates on closing nigliL and my first
experience there will always be memo
rable.
After 21 years on tliis earth, I only
recently ventui ed outside the confinesof
urb;m sprawl. Due to my sheltered
existence, 1 have been exposed to rabbits,
cows, pigs, sheep, goiits. and Vcirious birds
of a feather on only a few and I'are
occasions. Li the J im Graham Exposition
Building at the State Fair, my experience
v.Tthfium
aniniiilsmulti-
pliedexponen-
ti;illy.Cow^iofall
colors, shapes,
and sizes sat in
theirhay-fiUed
stiUls.Wlienl
approached
tlienxthey
looked up at me
watli big, black
eyes and mooed
sotUy
Imar-
veledatthe milking macliinestliiit gleaned
the milkfiom the Holsteiiis. ‘‘Udderl)'’’
^sdnating!
At the pig show, 1 discovered thiU
“pork” is certainly an appropriate moniker,
A sow who lacked no lighter than 5(X)
poundsof pink skin, snout, and curly tail
suckled her youngsters in a cage. Mother
and all her oinking children kx:)ked quite
rontenL
I was also
amazed at the
different varietiesof
rabbits, all of whom
reminded me of the
Cadbury Bunny. Tcx)
bad they didn’t lay
any caramel-tilled,
choailate Bister
eggv
I was most
astonished, however,
atthechickeas.
White ones, black ones, yellow' ones,
biDwii ones...al l feathery and some even
funy\ I was surprised to leam that a
Leghorn (as in the Looney Tune ch;iracter
Foghorn Leghom) is an actuiil spedes of
chicken. I s;iy, I say, those chickens. I say,
do look like the autoon. son.
As I pondered over the black
rooster who was cTowned by a splendid
array of
plumes,!
w'atchedasone
of the proud
exliibitorxaime
to gather his
blue-ribbon
brood. A man
clothed in a
plaid shirt
grabbed the
chicken around
the legi, pulled
it out of the
livestock bam must have read my mind.
'Tlxiy might flap their wingi but they
aren’t going cirry where.” he said. Logical
enough,! guess.
Tlie op[X)rtunity to hold baliy
chicks and
ducks with
nullyd(W'Ti
andscMt
quacks was
a rewarding
experience
as well, but
now that!
nniss
photo by Jonelle Kimbrough
Oink! A sow feeds her piglets at the
Livestock Exposition
have been up
close and
piiuiu uy Russ Thompson
I was honored to hold this baby chick at the
North Carolina State Fair’s Poultry Show.
cage, and
airried it upside-down to whatever nev^'
enclos-ure awaited it for the trip home.
“Why does he cany the bird that
way?” 1 thought My companion in the
personal with
these precious
fowl, I cannot
pass a Kentucky Fried Chicken without
feelinga lump in my tliroat and a knot in
my stomach.
I-ater in the evening 1 had the
pleasureof attendingmy first country masic
concert given by Brad Paisley.! am a
relatively new convert to the genre, so 1
wasexcited to hear the tell-tale twang of
the banjo in person. Dorton Arena filled up
wilti
hundreds of
laughiiig
fans. Some
donned
cowboy hats
l or the
occassion.
Many were
armed with
lighters to
wave during
Brad’s
Mlads.
Some even
atrrieda
menagsrieof
animals that had been won at the “Fool the
Guesser’" booths. ITie bulldogs with silver
top hats and the great white sharks wert
so gigantic that they may have requ ired
their own tickets iind seiiting cissignments.
Hie liglits dimmed in tlie house, itnd
the stage glowed red. The crowd chanted
“We Want Brad! We Want Br-ad!’' When
Brad liimself entered stage right, the chuiLs
turned to saecims of ador'ation mid
anticipation. Me was decked out in tiglit
blue jeitns, a blackshirt, mid his trademark
white cowboy hat that made the females
young and old swoon. Wrth liis band of
fiddle players, guitarists, and a rip-roaring
dmmmer, he sang both old ctnd new
favorites such as “Wr-apped Ar'ound,”
“Celebrity,” and “I'rir Gonna Miss Her;”
liis CTOwd-pleitsing ode to fishing
Being raised in the conaete jungle
of Fayetteville, NC, I really had no idea
what to expect from tlie e.xotic flavors
produced by the bcimyiirds, the aroma of
bm^beque, and tlie tap of cowboy boots to
the beat of a Nashville tune.
Now ! am proud to say that my
new-found country roots mn deep.!
cannot wait to come face to face with
anotlier pygmy goat, listen to the soft “bat”
of another sheep, ;ind crank up Brad
Paisley and
othercountry
music gems
on my stereo
system.
But
mostofal!,!
cannot w;iit to
attend tlie
Nortli
Carolina State
I m next year!
photo by Jonelle Kimbrough
Country music star Brad Paisley and his band
rock Dorton Arena and thrill the sold-out crowd.