Festival Gate Hours
Friday: Noon – 10 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Sunday: 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Building and Exhibit Hours
Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Carnival Hours
Friday: Noon – 10 p.m.*
Saturday: 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.*
Sunday: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

*May extend for one hour based on attendance


Carnival Wristbands
Friday: Purchase from Noon to 9 p.m.,
Good all day for unlimited rides
Sunday: Purchase from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
Good all day for unlimited rides



 

 

 

Action Alley


Sunday: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.


Action Alley is a fun-filled educational exhibit next to the Agri Supply Exposition Center, allowing our smallest festival attendees to explore vehicles they don’t normally get to see and experience close-up. It will offer children a hands-on opportunity to explore working trucks of all types including: public service, emergency, utility,construction, landscaping, transportation, and delivery.

 


 

Agri-Plaza

presented by 


Agri-Plaza


Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.


The Agri-Plaza is your one-stop destination for animals of all sizes inside the Jim Graham Building. Alpacas, Butterfly Barn, Carolina Cooker Skillet Skee-Ball, Chick Hatchery, Chocolate & Chip the Pardoned Thanksgiving Turkeys, Corn Table, Dairy Goats, Dairy Milking Classroom, Feeder Pigs, Free Kids’ Activities, Germ City, John Deere Pedal Tractor Obstacle Course, Llamas, Longhorn Steer, N.C. Forest Service, N.C. State Highway Patrol, Pig Patch Birthing Center, Sheep and additional commercial vendors and exhibitors await!


 

Agri-Puppets Agritainment Show


Friday: 1:30, 4 and 5:30 p.m.
Saturday: 11 a.m., 1 and 3:30 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m., 1 and 3:30 p.m.


Head over to the breezeway outside the Agri Supply Exposition Center to find the Agri-Puppets and learn all about agriculture and animals. Boomer and Oscar teach the importance of farming, where your food comes from and what farmers really do all day to provide the food we all enjoy. The show includes bubble popping, dancing, interactive question/answers and more! Bring the kids over to learn about agriculture in a massively fun way!

 


 

Antique Tractor Pull
Sam G. Rand Grandstand

presented by  




Saturday: 2 - 8 p.m. 
 


Interested in entering the Antique Tractor Pull? Contact Brad Gaupier at 910-990-1239 or visit www.catpapulling.com

 


 

Boomer's Farm Truck


Friday: 12:30 and 2:30 p.m.
Saturday: 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Sunday: 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.


Be on the look-out for Boomer driving his farm truck around the festival grounds and come on over for a photo-op with our agri-celebrity!

 


 

Butterfly Barn


Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

 

Come learn all about butterfly life cycles and migration patterns of native butterflies in the AgriPlaza inside the Jim Graham Building!

 


 

Carolina Cooker Skillet Skee-Ball

presented by 




Saturday: 12 p.m.
Sunday: 12 p.m.

 

Carolina Cooker is on board with us to turn the classic skee-ball game on its head! Did you ever dream of skee-ball with fried eggs and cast iron skillets? We're here to make that dream come true! High noon in the Graham corral, test your egg flinging skills at this free competition! We'll have divisions for Women 18+, Men 18+ and Youth 13-17. Get that hand-eye coordination going to take home a Carolina Cooker Cast Iron Skillet! We'll take the first 25 competitors in each division starting at 11 a.m.

 


 

Chick Hatchery


Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.


The smallest of our babies will be born in our incubator inside the Graham Building AgriPlaza! Come watch how baby chicks pip through their membranes and shells to join the brood!

 


 

Chocolate & Chip the 2022 Pardoned Thanksgiving Turkeys


Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

 

But wait, there's more! The NC State Prestage Department of Poultry Science will be on-hand with the most famous turkeys of Thanksgiving 2022! They began their lives at the Circle S Ranch in Union County, but Chooclate and Chip earned their feathers at the White House when President Biden pardoned them in November 2022. They now live at NC State's Lake Wheeler Road Field Laboratory, and will join us to teach you all about North Carolina's modern poultry industry.

 


 

Dinah Gore 4-H Healthy Food Challenge


Saturday: 9 a.m. -2 p.m.

 

The Dinah Gore 4-H Healthy Food Challenge is a competition where young people form a team and participate in a healthy living food challenge competition to create a dish using only a predetermined set of ingredients. From these ingredients, team members must identify and prepare the dish, then make a presentation about it to the judges. Stop by the Graham Building Hall of Fame Room to cheer them on. Winners will move on to the national competition!

 


Egg to Chick Egg Candling


Friday: Noon - 4 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.


Have you ever wondered how to tell if an egg is fertilized? Come out and join the Veterinary Division of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as they give you the hands-on experience observing the growth and development of an embryo inside an egg.

 


 

Feeder Pigs

presented by 

 


Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.


Located right beside the Pig Patch Birthing Center, you'll find our fiesty feeder pigs. Currently weighing in around 30 pounds, their antics are sure to make you smile. Members from the North Carolina Pork Council will be on hand to answer your questions about pork production in North Carolina.

 


 

Festival Homegrown Music Stage


 

We're all about what makes North Carolina the absolute best place to live, work and play...and the music coming out of North Carolina is amazing. Click through to check out our full line-up!

 


 

Heritage Church Service featuring The Master's Men


Sunday: 9 a.m.


Come join us Sunday morning in the Heritage Circle Church for a down-home Sunday service featuring inspirational music from a capella men's ensemble, The Master's Men.

 


 

Kenya Safari Acrobats

 

presented by 




Friday: 1:30, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m.
Saturday: 1:30, 3 and 4:30 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m., 12 and 2 p.m.


Always a crowd favorite, the Kenya Safari Acrobats are BACK at the Got to Be NC Festival. From Greensboro, they'll wow you with their feats of athleticism mixed with spell-binding stories of African culture. You'll find them between the Agri Supply Exposition Center and the Grandstand.

 



Kids' Pedal Tractor Pull 
PT


Saturday: 1 p.m.

Get ready, get set....GOOOOOO! Come on down to the Grandstand on Saturday for your littles to participate in our Kids' Pedal Tractor Pull! Ribbons will be awarded to the fastest on the track! Age appropriate for those 2-8.

 


Kidz Corral


Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.


Stop by the Kidz Corral in the Graham Building to take a break and play in the corn table, check out our on-the-spot competitions and crafts, milk Maggie the Cow and more!

 

Friday, May 19  
12-1:30 p.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Garden in a Glove
3-4:30 p.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Paper Butterflies
6-7:30 p.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Garden in a Glove
Saturday, May 20  
9-10:30 a.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Paper Butterflies
12-1:30 p.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Garden in a Glove
3-4:30 p.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Paper Butterflies
6-7:30 p.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Garden in a Glove
Sunday, May 21  
9-10:30 a.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Paper Butterflies
12-1:30 p.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Garden in a Glove
3-4:30 p.m. Chicken Fling, Pick Up Ducks, Paper Butterflies



 

King BMX Stunt Show


Friday: 1, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m.
Saturday: 12. 2 and 5 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m., 12 and 2 p.m.


Let's have some high-flying fun! Located between Dorton Arena and the Graham Building, the atheletes from the King BMX Stunt Show will thrill the audiences with their adrenaline-filled tricks that defy gravity..

 


 

Lil Ducky Water Racing


Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.


You better get that pitcher pump going if you're going to win the race! Tucked inside the Kidz Corral in the Graham Building, the rubber ducky race is on! Grab your friends and see who will take home bragging rights!

 


 

N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services'
Germ City with the Division of Food and Drug Protection


Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.


How clean are your hands? Even if you think you have a good hand-washing technique, you may be surprised with the germs you leave behind. That’s the focus of Germ City! While you're in the Graham Building, make sure you take a time out to learn proper hand washing techniques after you visit the animals!

 


 

NCDA&CS Spotted Lanternfly Detection Demonstrations
featuring K-9 Goose

presented by 




Friday: 12:30, 2, 3:30, 5 p.m.


Did you know the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumuer Services is home to two spotted lanternfly detection dogs? K-9 Goose and K-9 Kita work with their handlers Plant Protection Specialists Chad Taylor and Jackie Fredieu to sniff out the destructive pest that causes severe damage to trees, plants and vineyards.

Head over between the Agri Supply Expo Center and Grandstand to see Chad and K-9 Goose for a demonstration on how K-9 Goose's amazing nose is able to sniff out the spotted lanternfly and protect our state from this invasive pest.

 


North Carolina Forest Service

Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.


Visit the North Carolina Forest Service inside the Graham Building to learn about our state’s rich history in forestry and how our forestland is a significant influence in the state, providing economic value and adding immeasurably to the quality of life for residents. Learn about the many programs and services the N.C. Forest Service provides for the citizens of North Carolina – and beyond!

 


 

North Carolina K-9 Working Dog Demonstrations

featuring K-9 Officers from the Wake and Durham County Sheriff's Offices

presented by 

 



Saturday: 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. - Wake County Sheriff's Office

Sunday: 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. - Durham County Sheriff's Office


 

K-9 Officers will be on-hand to demonstrate obedience training, article search and drug detection. While your focus is on the working dog, don't miss the specialized training the K-9 handler demonstrates to both train his/her dog and to keep them at peak performance.

Demonstrations will be held between the Agri Supply Expo Center and Grandstand.

 



Pig Patch Birthing Center

presented by 




Friday: Noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.


Our sows will be welcoming their newest litters of piglets in The Pig Patch Birthing Center located in the Jim Graham Building. We'll be wishing a 'Happy Birthday' to new piglets each day of the Festival.

 


 

SouthLand Dairy Farmers Mobile Dairy Classroom

 

Friday: noon, 3 and 6 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m., noon, 3 and 6 p.m.

Sunday: 10 a.m., noon, 3 and 6 p.m.



Want to know how the milk in your grocery store gets there? At the Southland Dairy Classroom, we'll demonstrate how to milk a cow, describe how milk goes from the farm to the consumer, and then answer questions from the audience. We're bringing the dairy experience directly to you by sharing the a process that includes math, science, health (nutrition), and agriculture!

 

 


 

Young Farmer of the Day presented by the Farm Credit Associations of North Carolina

presented by 



 

North Carolina's next generation of farmers is in the field and the lab, at the farmstand and in the classroom. They are leading the way in feeding and clothing the world. We are proud to recognize three outstanding young farmers at this year's Got to Be NC Festival. Click through to apply or nominate a Young Farmer of the Day honoree!