Fair Weaves Spell Once More

But the fair closed Sunday night on a tragic note.

WRAL-TV reported Monday night that a fair vendor, 39-year-old Joseph Rehrig, sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy Sunday night. Rehrig, in Wake County Jail on a $1 million bond, is charged with kidnapping and taking indecent liberties with a minor.

About 236, 500 people attended the fair during the weekend - 108,000 on Saturday alone. The fair will run until Oct. 22.

Many of the fairgoers followed large bootprints, size 15 1/2, to one of the fair's new attractions, Footprints of James A. Graham. The exhibit honors N.C. Agricultural Commissioner Jim Graham, who is retiring this year after more than 36 continuous years in office. Graham, nicknamed the "Sodfather," is 79 years old and the longest-serving agricultural commissioner in the nation.

The exhibit traces Graham's life and accomplishments, from his childhood to his first campaign for agricultural commissioner in 1964 to the present.

It also displays Graham's office, transplanted from downtown Raleigh, complete with photos of Graham posing with farmers and several canes propped against a bookcase. A coatrack stands in the corner, with one of Graham's trademark Stetson hats hanging from it.

Several people wearing John Deere hats stood in front of Graham's office, talking in quiet tones normally reserved for churches or libraries.

Wayne Harrel, a farmer from Benson, was daring enough to lean over the railing and touch Graham's desk.

Harrel said most farmers considered Graham a living legend or a hero.

"Jim Graham is the living representative of farmers in this state," he said. "He's an amazing man who's done a lot for this state and for (farmers)."

Harrel said Graham had shepherded the industry through several economic upheavals, promoting technological advances and new farming methods.

He said he considered Graham a friend, though the two have met only a few times. "He probably wouldn't know me if he saw me," Harrel said. "But I'll always remember him."

Other fairgoers decided to focus on the future instead of the past and visited Cyberspace, located only yards away from the Graham exhibit.

The Cyberspace exhibit features high-tech computer equipment, such as an infrared camera from NASA and new computer models.

Eric Johnson of Cary, who is looking for a job with an Internet company, said the fair needed more technology exhibits. "There's too much emphasis on farming and farm animals," Johnson said. "How many people in the state now care about cow shows?"

But Erin Brocker of Hamptonville would probably disagree. Brocker, who is 10 years old, was showing her lamb, Freckles. She said she enjoyed the animals at the fair the most, especially the lambs and the cows. "It's fun to show them and to pet them," Brocker said. "It's nice to win ribbons, too."

She said she won two participation ribbons earlier in the day.

Karen Johnson of Raleigh, a junior at Broughton High School, said she preferred the rides and wide assortment of food to anything else.

"(The Ferris wheel) is not the most exciting ride," Johnson said, while waiting in line for the Ferris wheel. "But you haven't really been to the fair until you've ridden on the Ferris wheel."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.