What do YOU want for the Fair? The Department of Agriculture wants to know

I know it's February, but there are still things to talk about when it comes to the North Carolina State Fair. That's because the Fair, with its new expanded online presence, is having meetings, planning -- and requesting your ideas!

I dropped by the blog, Deep Fried @ the N.C. State Fair, and saw the Fair folks were asking for feedback both on themes for the 2009 Fair and for ideas for bands to bring to Dorton Arena. I don't know about Dorton Arena, but bring back the USAF's Blue Aces! I missed them last year.

(Speaking of the Blue Aces, the band's album came out in February and is now available for free download.)

If you want to give suggestions or feedback, the Fair folks ask that you use their blog to leave comments, or send messages to the Twitter account ( http://twitter.com/NCStateFair ).

So how is the social media expansion going? Karlie Justus, Public Information Officer for N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, told me that as far as she knew the NC State Fair was the first Fair to have a Twitter account (though there are others now, including NDStateFair and MiamiDadeFair.) Facebook has  been a real success too; the NC State Fair has about 1,700 friends and the page is still getting tagged pictures from the 2008 Fair!

Alas, I could not get Karlie to give me any information on the 2009 Fair. She did confirm that the GreenNC exhibit will be back  for its second year, but aside from that planning is in the very early stages. Watch the Twitter account and, of course, the NC State Fair blog, for upcoming announcements.