Fairgoers heading to the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh on Thursday can skip paying for a ticket entirely — all it takes is six non-perishable food items handed over at the gates. The annual Smithfield Foods Hunger Relief Day, set for Thursday, Oct. 22, trades free admission for groceries that go straight to families struggling to put food on the table across the region.
The tradition dates back to 1993, making this year’s edition more than three decades old, according to foodbankcenc.org. Since it began, the event has grown into what the food bank’s website calls one of the largest single-day food drives in North Carolina, while a separate post from the same organization describes it outright as the largest single-day food drive in the state. Every item collected benefits the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina and its partner agencies, as reported by CBS17.com.
The scale of the giving varies depending on which figure you look at. The food bank’s event page states that fairgoers have donated over 6 million pounds of food since the drive started, while a North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services release puts the total at more than 6.8 million pounds. On the meal side, the food bank’s event page cites more than 5 million meals provided to the organization and its local partners, while another post on the same food bank site describes the event as having provided more than six million meals to date.
What to Bring to the Fair Gates
The food bank is asking donors to prioritize specific items this year rather than just any canned good off the shelf. Peanut butter and jam, chicken, tuna or salmon, and ready-to-heat meals are listed as especially helpful donations, per the organization’s event guidance. Visitors should also keep an eye on the clock — the fair will not admit anyone after 9:45 p.m., the same source notes.
A Region Facing Its Worst Hunger Crisis in a Generation
The timing of this year’s food drive lands against a grim backdrop. More than 629,000 people are now food insecure across the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina’s 34-county service area, the organization reported. That means one in seven neighbors across the region are unsure where their next meal will come from, including one in five children, according to the same report…