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Fairgrounds food hall bowing next year
Let’s be real—the NC State Fair is basically a food festival in disguise. And, soon, you won’t have to wait until October to venture to the grounds for some good eats and drinks. Expected to break ground this summer with a slated opening ahead of the 2026 Fair is Midway Event Center, a two-tiered food hall with a full bar—plus indoor/outdoor seating.
Once completed, the project will boast eight permanent stalls for food vendors with breakfast, lunch and dinner ops, as well as four stalls existing fair food vendors can maximize during the annual event (candied oatmeal pies, Buffalo mac bowls, Alaskan king crab pops?!). While those eateries are still in flux, NC State Fair Director Kent Yelverton promises a great mix.
“We’re the State Fair, so we certainly want to appeal to all demographics—from families to afterwork gatherings,” he says. “We want everybody to feel comfortable and want this to be a gathering place.”
And it certainly will be a place to gather during the fairgrounds’ 300+ events a year, encouraging those festivity-fueled travelers to stay longer or check out multiple events while they’re already on the grounds—or venture out for a meal on any given day. In turn, the food hall promises to bolster the relative food desert as part of the up-and-coming Blue Ridge Corridor as a whole given its current lack of F&B options.
“We do see a need in the area,” maintains Yelverton. “We know there are other projects that will contribute to that down the road as well, which we support and see as complementary to what we’re doing.”
That daily foodie traffic is a definite win-win for the NC State Fair and the entire local community, providing a lively hub for diverse sips + snack selects while “adding to activity on the fairgrounds by having the food hall open every day,” Yelverton adds. And just like that, a sleepy city corridor is waking up—one bite at a time. ncagr.gov
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