FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) — The Eastern Carolina Agricultural Fair is back in Florence for the next 11 days.
The fair is at the fairgrounds on East Palmetto Street, not too far from Francis Marion University. It opened at 5 p.m.
The fair is known for its food, rides and live animals. One entertainer, David Feimster, holds the hot dog pig race.
Each show is about 20 minutes long with five different races. Feimster said show up on Wednesday after a 10-hour drive from New Jersey.
“We’re a little different than say, the vendors or the ride company and so forth,” he said. “They have to make a living. Otherwise they can’t — it’s very expensive even for us to be out on the road. You know, for us to come down and back, we’ll have over a thousand dollars in fuel and road taxes and stuff like that.”
The fair’s manager, Pat Lee, said she’s been coming since she was a little girl. She said she’s worked there for almost 60 years.
When asked what one of the most exciting things people should look forward to, she had a simple answer.
“Always the food,” she said. “You can eat a Philly cheese downtown, but you can come to the fair and the fair is always better.”
The fair goes until Nov. 5.
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Aundrea Gibbons joined the News13 team in May 2023 after graduating from Clemson University with bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and communication. Aundrea is a Marion native and graduated as salutatorian in 2019. Follow Aundrea on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of her work here.
