The North Carolina State Fair is dedicating three hours of the event to help people with sensitivities to light and sound.
“Accessibility Day presented by Bandwidth” will be held on Sunday, Oct. 17, between 9 a.m. and noon.
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During those hours, a few changes to the busy fair environment will be tailored to children and adults on the autism spectrum or those with sensory processing disorders, including:
- The lowering of sound and light stimulants
- No lights or music between 9 a.m. and noon at carnival rides and vendor booths
- Only acoustic concerts without light amplification at stages until noon
- Limited use of the public address system, which will only be used for lost visitor announcements
- The addition of a “chill out zone” with tables and chairs, low lighting and soft music for people who wish to take a break from fair festivities.
- The addition of adult changing stations in existing family restrooms
The day is sponsored by Bandwidth, which broke ground Monday on its new $100 million campus on a 40-acre property at 2201 Edwards Mill Road.
The plan includes two five-story buildings covering 450,000 square feet and the amenities include an Olympic-sized soccer field, basketball court, walking trails, an amphitheater, gym facilities and a Montessori school on-site for employees’ kids.
EO David Morken wants his 1,000 employees based in Raleigh to work in-person five days a week and said the new campus is part of that.
“The bar has been raised for going back into work in-person full-time," he said. "We are raising the bar."
Bandwidth purchased the land from the Department of Agriculture, which produces the State Fair. Part of the agreement is that some of the land will be used for parking during the 10-day event.
On Monday, N.C. State Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler said a full-size fair is planned Oct. 14-24 despite an uptick in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks because of the Delta variant.
Last year’s fair was canceled, costing the state about $9.5 million in revenue.