N.C. State Fair’s ‘Farm Animal Frenzy’ contest
kicks off at local high schools

RALEIGH – During the first week of school, the blue and white hallways at Millbrook High School are always buzzing with activity and noise. This year, however, the usual chatter about freshman jitters and Friday night Wildcat football games took a back seat to an elusive 4-foot tall rooster.

“Everyone on campus is talking about this giant animal and some people still don’t believe it exists,” said Elizabeth Stevenson, an art teacher at Millbrook. “All this buzz has really gotten my students excited—who wouldn’t want an opportunity to paint a 4-foot tall rooster?”

The celebrity rooster is just one of 18 farm animals “loose” across Wake County. Eighteen area high school art classes and clubs will decorate huge, larger-than-life fiberglass roosters, horses, cows and pigs and compete for prize money and bragging rights as part of the N.C. State Fair’s “Farm Animal Frenzy” contest.

“When you put together a crazy subject like a life-size pig, the opportunity for folks who might not normally be in a gallery to see your work at the Fair and a friendly competition between rival schools, you have an explosion of critical thinking and creativity,” said Michelle Harrell, an art teacher at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School.

Each school will decorate an animal judged on-site by professional artists Sept. 18 and 19. The first-place winner will receive $1,000, second will earn $750 and third will get $500. All schools will receive $200 for participating. The results will be announced just prior to the Fair.

The public will have two opportunities to see the finished creations and vote on their favorites. After judging, the animals will be on display Sept. 22 at area shopping centers for two weeks until the Fair kicks off. The giant farm animals will then be corralled at a number of locations around the fairgrounds.

Online voting will determine a “People’s Choice Award” winner, which will be announced Thursday, Oct. 18, during the Fair. The public is encouraged to visit the Fair Web site, www.ncstatefair.org, and click on the Farm Animal Frenzy icon until midnight Wednesday, Oct. 17, to vote on their favorite animals.

Participating schools, and the farm animal each will decorate, are: Apex High School, rooster; Athens Drive High School, pig; Broughton High School, horse; Cardinal Gibbons High School, rooster; Cary Academy, pig; Cary High School, horse; East Wake High School, horse; Garner Senior High School, rooster; Holly Springs High School, cow; Knightdale High School, cow; Leesville Road High School, cow; Middle Creek High School, horse; Millbrook High School, rooster; Panther Creek High School, horse; Sanderson High School, cow; Southeast Raleigh High School, pig; Wakefield High School, cow; and Wake Forest-Rolesville High School, pig.

For more information, visit the State Fair Web site at www.ncstatefair.org. The Fair runs Oct. 12-21.

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N.C. State Fair’s ‘Farm Animal Frenzy’ contest kicks off at local high schools

N.C. State Fair’s ‘Farm Animal Frenzy’ contest
kicks off at local high schools