Yes, I went to the State Fair. Yes, I had my picture taken with the statue of Jim Graham carved in butter. Yes, I ate well.

My trip to the State Fair included:

• One foot-long hotdog, one order of onion rings and a Mountain Dew — to help the Hurricane Floyd flood victims, of course. It was Methodist food and my Methodist mama would have approved.
• One block of chocolate fudge — because it was there, and I needed a dessert after my good deed.
• One cup of lemonade to cut the sweet of the chocolate fudge.
• One funnel cake — because how can you go to the State Fair and not eat one?
• A handful of just-roasted peanuts because they were free, and I wanted to show my support for the Peanut Growers Association of North Carolina.
• A cup of homemade John Deere ice cream (strawberry), because I have never been to the State Fair and not eaten John Deere ice cream.
• And, finally, a deep fried candy bar. They do exist. They put Snickers bars on corndog sticks, dip them into funnel cake batter, then drop them gingerly into a vat of hot oil. It comes out golden brown, slippery hot, and then — you are not going to believe this —they roll them in powdered sugar.

I had to ask the man in the high apron and necktie who was busy handing out these artery-coagulating specimens, “Did you think up this particular recipe?”

“No,” he said in deep, almost eastern European accent, “My Uncle Cyrus (I think he said Cyrus) discovered it by accident.” Some people discover penicillin. Others discover deep-fried candy bars.

There were the rides. The pig races. The demolition derby. The exhibits. And the ribbons.

Just walking past it all gave me hope for the future. Ribbon-winning bricklayers and prize-winning plumbers (although auto mechanics and cosmetologists were obvious absentees). Bigger and brighter flowers. More milk-producing cows. Fuzzier-headed show chickens. Coalitions for this and volunteer agencies for that. And through it all poured a smiling assortment of all kinds of folks. Democrat-buttoned, Republican-stickered.

English/Spanish/What was he talking? speakers. Heads scarved, ball-capped, and shaved. Confederate belt buckled and Malcolm X T-shirted. Eating together, laughing together, standing side-by-side and looking up at late-night fireworks, oohhing-and-ahhing together.

These are not things to take for granted.

“What a country,” the State Fair proclaims. It fairly shouts, “We’re getting better all the time.”

Shoot, I saw evidence of it right on the midway. Proclaimed in bold, bright letters were magic words, even awesome words: “Cholesterol-free pork rinds.”

What a country, or as the State Fair reminds us: It takes little to turn “fried” into “friend.”

Kevin Cherry is consultant for access to special collections with the State Library of North Carolina. He previously worked at the Rowan County Library.