Fair Prep: Meet the mom of 5 behind the NC State Fair's signs, daily schedules, logos, more

This is Melanie Edwards' busy week. Not that the weeks before this week haven't been packed with major projects and a looming deadline.

Posted 1:00 a.m. Oct 21, 2019 — Updated 1:00 a.m. Oct 21, 2019

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

, Go Ask Mom editor

RALEIGH, N.C. — This is Melanie Edwards' busy week. Not that the weeks before this week haven't been packed with major projects and a looming deadline.

As the fair's design and publications coordinator, the single mom of five — 16-year-old quadruplets and a nine-year-old — manages a staff of four NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services graphic designers. And, together, they design and create all of the signs, T-shirts, schedules and more for the NC State Fair.

This is Edwards' 23rd fair as a agriculture department employee. But she has memories of it for a lot longer than that. "I can remember attending the fair as a child with my family and on school field trips," she tells me.

I checked in with Edwards to learn more about prepping for this year's fair, her tips for taking kids — and when her team will start prepping for 2020. Here's a Q&A:

Go Ask Mom: You been involved with the fair for 20+ years and are involved in graphic design. Tell me all that you do.

Melanie Edwards: For the fair, my staff is responsible for all of the creative design and large exhibits, promotional items, ads and the daily schedule, which are printed in the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' print shop, and signs utilized on the fairgrounds by security, ticket sales, competitions, etc.

We create the logo, look and feel for the entire fair and then build on that throughout the year with themed promotional and exhibit items. We do everything from a sign to tell you what time the flower shop opens to designing, printing, and hanging graphics in the windows in Dorton Arena, the Expo building, the front windows of the Scott building—just to name a few. This involves us learning how to operate scissor lifts and taking harness training so that we are safe in the lifts.

We have designed, created and assembled wooden cakes that were twenty feet tall to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the fair. We designed, printed and installed two larger permanent selfie stations for the fair. One of my staff brought Casey the Cardinal to life a few years ago through illustration. My staff also creates all of the shirts, hats, magnets, mugs, pony tail holders, etc., for the Nest store at the fair.

GAM: What's your job like during fair time?

ME: CRAZY! My mom moves into my house during the first week of the fair. She manages the kids while I manage work. As I am typing this, I am working on a 60+ hour week since Monday. My staff and I move to a mobile office out at the fairgrounds two weeks before the fair starts. We staff that office every day of the fair through half of the last Saturday. In the mobile office, we have a large format printer that we print signage and exhibit materials as needed throughout the fair. While out on the grounds delivering and installing signs, we answer fair goers' questions and give directions to anything from the where the bathroom is to where the WRAL tent is located!

I am the superintendent of the Graphic Design competition. My staff and I are responsible for judging graphic design entries from schools, home schools, and individual students. It's really neat to see that students are learning design at such a young age. We judge the competition on the first Saturday of the fair, and ribbons are awarded and the entries are put display at the fair for all to see.

GAM: You have five kids. What tips do you have for parents who are bringing multiple kids to the fair?

ME: Go early. Ride lines are shorter and the crowd is smaller. The fairgrounds opens at 8 am, exhibit halls at 9 a.m., and rides at 10 a.m. Plan what you are going to eat before you get to the fairgrounds. Everything looks good. And when you are walking around with five kids that all want something different, it is best to have a plan. This also helps plan your budget for the visit. Buy larger items that everyone can share - funnel cake, kettle corn, etc. The FFA booth down at the Holshouser Building has inexpensive drinks and snacks. There are lots of free and fun activities down at Heritage Circle such as the Forestry Exhibit and Soil and Water Exhibit.

There is a vast amount of educational experiences to be had at the Village of Yesteryear, learning how arts and crafts are made in old and traditional ways. The flower show is beautiful and has something for everyone to look at. Heritage Circle is a great place to unwind and relax. There is entertainment, and it is a shaded area. A great place to rest.

GAM: What are your absolute favorite parts of the fair? What do you always have to see? Where do you always have to eat?

ME: I love to see the exhibits and competitive exhibits. My kids enter competitions and enjoy looking at their entries on display at the fair. I also love being at the fairgrounds with staff that I only see once a year. It's almost like a family reunion at times. I love seeing the flower show at night. They spend a lot of time installing lights on the exhibits, and it's almost like a fairy land there at night.

I always have to eat Pickle Barrel - steak tips, onions, peppers and mushrooms on a bed of mashed potatoes. I always have to eat chicken pita from John the Greek. And my kids love the Wisconsin fried cheese.

GAM: What's the week like after the fair ends? How far in advance will you be prepping for 2020?

The week after the fair is when we move back into our office downtown in the ag building and try to put everything back in place. We spend some time talking about things we would have changed and done differently. And talk about improvements we can make for next year.

It would be nice to take some time off, but usually we are finally getting back to projects that we have neglected for the weeks before due to concentrating on the fair. We take the month of November off as far as fair goes, and then in December we start talking about what the theme and logo will be for the next year.

By January we are up and running on producing designs to submit to fair staff and department administration for review and comments. The logo design is narrowed down somewhere around February, and then everything starts from there. New designs for the Nest store are also began around that same time period to ensure that designs are completed and ready to be sent out on bid by July. The fair is a never-ending cycle, but our busiest time is really from August until the end of the fair in October.

The 2019 NC State Fair runs through Oct. 27.

Go Ask Mom features local moms every Monday.

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