RALEIGH -- The argument between the two farmers probably went something like this: My cow is better than your cow. To settle the dispute, they met in Raleigh and duked it out in the show ring.
When the N.C. State Fair opens Thursday afternoon, 156 years after that first one, fairgoers will be able to hear a new kind of boast: My texting thumbs are quicker than yours.
Don't fret. Pigs, chickens, goats and behemoth vegetables will continue to wage their blue-ribbon battles. But this year, new competitions will also decide who can send the fastest and most accurate text messages, crown a Guitar Hero video-game champion, and send Twitter fans scouring the fairgrounds for clues in a tweet-based scavenger hunt.
"It's a recognition that there are new technologies and new skills that people are developing," said state fair spokesman Brian Long, "just as growing big pumpkins takes a certain amount of skill and effort and talent."
The fair's mission hasn't changed. Competition is king.
Thumbs at the ready
The idea for theTXT-O-LYMPIX came after fair promotions coordinator Nikki Berryman read online about similar contests. She tried to organize a texting competition last year, but a late start hampered her marketing efforts and only a few texters signed up.
This year she started early, even securing a sponsor to supply the phones. To even the texting playing field, all competitors will be required to use the phones provided.
The contest works by placing the contestants at a table, with phones in front of them. With their hands at their sides, competitors will see a word or phrase flash on a screen, which is their cue to text that message to the judge. The first message the judge receives wins, provided the message is typed exactly as it appeared on the screen. The grand champion will win $150, which will buy a lot of corn dogs.
The contest is a way to involve more young people in competitions.
"The kids aren't planting corn and raising pigs the way they used to," Berryman said.
Don't think, though, that texters with full-grown thumbs aren't welcome. Berryman relishes the idea of adults taking on the teens.
"I want young against old."
Mature competitors are welcome as well for the Guitar Hero competition, designed to find the fair's best video-game guitarist. The contest will be in the interactive gaming tent, a new fair attraction.
Inside the tent, gamers can pound their thumbs for hours, as long as there's no line. A variety of games and systems, including PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, will be available. The Guitar Hero champ will win a $100 game-store gift card.
Midway tweetup
Even if you don't play the plastic guitar or send text messages to your BFFs, you'll be welcome at the first Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, an event organized with OurHashtag, a Triangle-based social media group.
The group tries to host tweetups each quarter, said Jeffrey L. Cohen, a partner in OurHashtag. Tweetups allow people who know each other from Twitter, the microblogging site, to meet in person and share ideas about online communication.
"It's a way to get together to put a face with a Twitter name," Cohen said.
The first Triangle tweetup in 2007 attracted five people to a coffee shop. The group's 2009 spring get-together attracted 250 people.
Attendees at the fair tweetup will be able to sample some of the fair's deep-fried offerings, interact with fair entertainers and participate in a scavenger hunt using Twitter.
While most of these competitions are aimed at young people, Long hopes they don't spend all their time in the gaming tent.
"If we can get young people in and still use the fair to educate them about the importance of agriculture, that's a good thing."
