Caleb Sigmom: Hey everybody, Caleb Sigmom here coming to
you from the North Carolina Mountain State Fair with Life in the Carolinas and man alive.
It has been an incredible day packed full of food and fun and all things fair.
Caleb Sigmom: We're about to give you the front row, VIP,
ultimate all access pass on the fun we've had.
You got to check this out.
Here we go.
Caleb Sigmom: Apple dumplings, I bet she is...
There she is!
Miss Judy: Oh, hi Caleb!
Caleb Sigmom: Hi Miss Judy.
Miss Judy: How are you?
Caleb Sigmom: Good.
You know, you are the queen of the Mountain State Fair?
Miss Judy: Oh, I always wanted to be a queen, but I never
have been.
Today's my day, right?
Caleb Sigmom: Today's your day.
Hey, what you got cooking in here today?
Miss Judy: Well, I got a few apple dumplings, some homemade
peach cobbler, a few other little things in here.
Would you like some?
Caleb Sigmom: I sure would, yes ma'am.
Miss Judy: You want to come in the back door?
Caleb Sigmom: I would love that!
Miss Judy: I don't let many in, but you come right around
and come in!
[inaudible 00:01:01] right here.
Caleb Sigmom: Oh, look at this.
You got a screen porch door.
Miss Judy: I do!
Caleb Sigmom: It feels like walking into my grandma's country.
kitchen.
Miss Judy: Yeah, it does.
Caleb Sigmom: I love that.
It runs in your blood too.
Miss Judy: It does.
I use the recipes, especially for the peach cobbler.
That's my grandmother's and my mother's old recipe, so it's top secret.
Miss Judy: You want to try the dumpling?
Caleb Sigmom: Yeah, that would be great.
Miss Judy: Well, how about I just hook you up right here?
Caleb Sigmom: The apple dumpling lady.
Miss Judy: I sure will.
Add a little cinnamon sauce to it.
Caleb Sigmom: Now this looks good.
Miss Judy: Ah, doesn't that look delicious?
Caleb Sigmom: How many years have you been doing this at
the fair?
Miss Judy: Ah, since 2004.
Want pecans and a cherry?
Caleb Sigmom: Let's go for it.
Miss Judy: All right, do all the good stuff in there.
Caleb Sigmom: Where I'm from we just call it all the fixings.
Miss Judy: All the fixings.
That's exactly what it is.
All the fixings Caleb Sigmom:
Look at that!
Miss Judy: One spoon for you.
Caleb Sigmom: Oh, this is good.
We're going to see if Grandma's recipe still holds up.
Home run Miss Judy, that is the delicious.
You're spoiling me.
Miss Judy: Well, here.
You eat the rest, I just had a little taste.
Caleb Sigmom: Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Miss Judy: I have all I want over here.
Caleb Sigmom: You got me set for my day at the fair.
I appreciate it.
I love it.
Miss Judy: You're welcome.
Caleb Sigmom: Well, thank you for letting me hang out.
Miss Judy: You're welcome!
Caleb Sigmom: Keep cooking.
And is it true what they say, an apple dumpling a day keeps the doctor away?
Miss Judy: I think so.
I'll vote for that, don't you?
Caleb Sigmom: Okay, great.
I'm in, let's say it, done, perfect.
Miss Judy: Good deal.
Done deal.
Caleb Sigmom: All right, well, I'll sneak out of here and
I'll see you later.
Caleb Sigmom: I am here at the North Carolina Mountain State
Fair with my new friend, Melanie.
And she owns and operates Shirley's Kitchen.
It's a restaurant on wheels that she started in memory of her mom who passed away a few
years ago.
And she celebrates the love of food by giving it to others.
It's awesome.
Caleb Sigmom: And these are her signature ribs.
She said, this is what she is known for far and wide.
I'm just going for it here.
Look at this.
Oh my word.
Melanie, look at this.
Okay, here we go.
Moment of truth.
You ready?
Melanie: Yes.
Caleb Sigmom: Oh my goodness.
Okay.
That's good.
And you can get the legendary ribs here.
North Carolina Mountain State Fair.
Oh delicious!
Delicious.
And you can taste the love.
Caleb Sigmom: Joe as I look around, you are surrounded by
these baskets.
But it's not just something that you picked up, it's been in your family.
Joe: That's correct.
I was introduced to these baskets as a boy.
My Grandpa Moore and my Grandma Williams both introduced me to these things.
They used to use them.
They're traditional gathering containers.
People made them out of necessity basically to carry things home.
Joe: I've developed my own style over the years
with the grapevine handles and the X pattern lacing and whatnot.
But essentially I make them the same way as my grandparents did.
It's just a simple piece of bark, folded, scored folded and laced up with some kind
of handle on it.
So it's just a convenient carry all, basically.
Joe: I'm like most of the crafters here, if we
don't teach the next generation, it's going go away.
I mean, none of us are going to live forever.
So it's important to teach other people how to do what we do.
The biggest part I like about teaching kids, especially they get to make one, they get
to take it home, but they get to learn something that they can continue for the rest of their
life if they want to.
So it's great.
Caleb Sigmom: Yes, it's actually taut against that.
Yeah, that's right.
Caleb Sigmom: Hey folks, I am here inside.
And if you look there are cows everywhere and this is my new friend.
His name is Adam Bird.
Caleb Sigmom: Adam, this is not just any tent.
It is called the Mooternity Ward, because inside this tent are a bunch of baby cows,
which we call calves.
Adam Bird: Yes.
Caleb Sigmom: Tell us about what's going on inside this
tent today.
Adam Bird: Yeah, absolutely.
So I have about 31 students from the high school and we kind of make a deal with them.
If they work a shift here at the Mooternity Ward, helping to keep the calves, or the cows
a supply of water, some hay, make sure their stalls are clean.
But the ultimate goal here is to just raise some agriculture literacy to inform the public.
There's a lot of folks disconnected from traditional production agriculture, both on the animal
side and the crop side.
And so this gives, them a chance to see firsthand the beauty that is agriculture, especially
animal agriculture.
Adam Bird: If you're lucky enough you might be here when
there's a cow or a heifer giving birth to a calf.
There hasn't been one yet since we've been here, but it's still a long night.
The night is young, as they say.
Caleb Sigmom: You never know.
And I'm keeping my eyes peeled because any second we have cameras right there.
Mr. Ed: Everybody say, "Bye-bye Dakota."
Bye-bye.
Caleb Sigmom: Hey everybody.
This little piggy went to the kids race.
We're out here with my buddy.
This guy came all the way from [Catawba 00:06:51] County.
He's going to run these pigs around the track and we're going to see today.
In the middle.
Speaker 7: Everybody ready to get [inaudible 00:07:27]!
Caleb Sigmom: Oh, we're going to race some pigs.
Speaker 7: We've got them fired up!
Caleb Sigmom: Come on, let's go!
Let's go!
Hurry, hurry!
Hey!
Caleb Sigmom: Look at this.
How you guys doing?
Speaker 8: All right.
Caleb Sigmom: Good.
Wow.
Look at this.
So is that the maple that's going in?
Speaker 8: That's the maple sugar, yeah.
Caleb Sigmom: The maple sugar goes in and then I guess air
spins it around?
Speaker 8: There's a little oven in there.
Caleb Sigmom: Okay.
Speaker 8: It's cooking it and melting it and there's
little tiny holes all the way around the outside of that ring.
Caleb Sigmom: Right.
Speaker 8: And it's reintroducing it into the air and
it's the sugar extracting.
Caleb Sigmom: Look at that.
That's incredible.
Speaker 8: It's quite a machine.
It does all the work.
I just have to get it out of the pan.
Caleb Sigmom: And we're going to taste this in a minute
and see how delicious it is.
Caleb Sigmom: All right.
Check this out.
So right now, it feels just like normal cotton candy.
Let's see.
Caleb Sigmom: Oh, whoa!
Whoa!
It melts in your mouth.
Maple flavored.
It's really good.
That's the best cotton candy I've ever had.
Wow.
That's awesome.
That is awesome.
Right here at the Mountain State Fair, Fletcher, North Carolina.
Got to come get you some, it's worth a trip.
Caleb Sigmom: Come on camera man, get you a little pinch.
Oh yeah!
Come on, get in on this, get in on this, get you a little bit.
Oh yeah, here we go.
Cheers.
Oh, that's good.
That's good.
Speaker 9: One, two, three!
Oh, Grace!
Look out!
Caleb Sigmom: Oh!
Mr. Ed: Ruby girl, Ruby!
We got your fake cheeky toy.
Speaker 9: All right, back at you Mr. Ed.
Mr. Ed: [Cheebo 00:09:25], think fast!
Oh!
Caleb Sigmom: Hey!
Speaker 9: There we go.
Speaker 11: I can't believe my eyes.
How do you get it to do that?
Speaker 9: She can run up some 40 miles an hour!
Whoa!
I don't mean to alarm you, sir, but I think she wants to eat you.
But don't worry, I have plenty snacks backstage.
Come on, can you help me out here.
Okay.
There we go.
[inaudible 00:09:57].
Come on, come on.
There we go.
All right, nice and...
Speaker 9: There, everyone our boss!
The one and only Mr. Ed!
Mr. Ed: Hey, Hey, whoa, [inaudible 00:10:06], what's
going on out here?
Speaker 9: We're trying to get Dakota to calm down.
Mr. Ed: Let me help with this.
Dakota, right over here, honey.
Here, we don't need this.
Eyes on me, girl.
Right here.
Dakota, way up high.
Good girl, good girl.
Way down low.
Caleb Sigmom: Each night here at the fair, there is a different
contest with a different sponsor and different entry requirements.
And so tonight's all about delicious dairy appetizers.
So, that's what we're enjoying tonight.
And we're heading into our...
I guess this is our fourth entry now.
So here we go.
Speaker 12: This one is ricotta blueberry.
Caleb Sigmom: And at the end of the day, I'm not even qualified
to be back here.
I'm the bald guy.
There are cameras.
I'm wearing the jacket.
They let me in and I say, it's super yummy.
So it's all the requirements I've met today, so I don't...
Speaker 13: All right, we're in focus.
Caleb Sigmom: All right, here we go.
Speaker 13: It looks good and let's see.
Caleb Sigmom: It's really good.
That's really good.
You taste the ricotta right when you...
Right now, the judges are deliberating.
They've tasted all of the 13 entries and in just a little bit, we're going to head out,
let them have a couple minutes on their own and then we'll see whose one.
I'm excited.
I don't even know, but man, I enjoyed tasting.
It was fun.
Caleb Sigmom: So let's sneak out there and we'll see who
won the big deal.
Speaker 14: Certainly, just remember that.
Caleb Sigmom: Congratulations ladies.
That is so cool.
Speaker 14: Thank you.
Caleb Sigmom: Is this your first time winning a blue ribbon
for it?
Speaker 15: I won a couple years ago at the Pork Association
competition.
Caleb Sigmom: Ah, that's cool.
Speaker 15: Yes.
Caleb Sigmom: And now here you are with dairy racking it
up.
Well, congratulations.
Speaker 15: Thank you.
Caleb Sigmom: Awesome dish and have an awesome night.
Caleb Sigmom: You guys, I am standing here at the North
Carolina Mountain State Fair with the one, the only David The Bullet Smith.
He is the human cannon ball.
Caleb Sigmom: How are you?
David Smith: I'm very good.
Thank you man for coming.
Caleb Sigmom: Good man.
And you're just minutes away from launching through the air of a hundred and what?
David Smith: Oh, we're about 140 feet here and yeah, we've...
I think we're on 17 shows or something so far.
Caleb Sigmom: Wow.
David Smith: Ah, I've been training for it.
I've been getting ready for a long time for this fair, because I know we got a lot of
shots and I want to do a good job.
Caleb Sigmom: I know you're going to kill.
It's going to be awesome.
David Smith: Ah, thank you so much.
Caleb Sigmom: That was crazy!
That was insane!
Wow.
Look at that.
Wow.
Caleb Sigmom: It's just such a cool opportunity to be a
part of such a special day here in the Carolinas.
I hope that if you ever get the chance, you can come out and check out the fair because
our whole team here with Life in the Carolinas says it's the best day ever.
And it's a day I won't soon forget.
So come out, check it out sometime here at the North Carolina Mountain State Fair.
Caleb Sigmom: It's a great reminder of what a special treat
it is to do life here in the Carolinas.
You know that just as well as I do.
So, until next time.