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I didn't hear about this before the Fair started, but the Stanley Cup visited the Fair on Friday between 10-3 (not a side benefit I would have imagined when the Carolina Hurricanes won the NHL championship last summer!) It was in the tent outside the Kerr Scott Building. Saturday it's leaving North Carolina, but I got to visit it.
My two immediate impressions of the Cup: large and fragile. Probably its shape makes it look like it would tip over easily. But it also looks very mysterious too, with the names of the winning players, coaches, and staff inscribed on it in tiny script.
One thing I learned standing there, taking pictures and watching folks walk through -- people in Raleigh love their hockey. People in line excitedly chatted to each other about the Cup, about the Hurricanes, and about the upcoming season. I felt like I was getting a hockey education just hanging around.
It wasn't just the Cup that was on display, either. One of the attendants to the Cup (what, you think they're just going to leave it there by itself?) had a championship ring and was generously letting people try it on and take pictures of it.
You can get more information about the history of the Stanley Cup at NHL.com, including an overview of the Cup's many travels. (Wikipedia has an extensive, fascinating article about the Cup including information about a 1905 incident where someone -- I kid you not -- tried to drop kick it across the Rideau Canal.
Even as the Fair starts the NHL season is in full swing. Of course you can follow the fortunes of the Carolina Hurricanes at WRAL.com. Good Luck 'Canes! Maybe we'll see the Cup again at the Fair next year...
