North Carolina State Fair hosts annual tobacco stringing contest

The North Carolina State Fair continues its tradition of hosting an annual tobacco stringing contest, a practice that honors the state's agricultural heritage. The competition features participants across generations, ranging from 12-year-old Sophie Sunday to 97-year-old Ruth Coats.

Historically, tobacco was harvested by hand and hung on wooden sticks to be cured in log barns. While the terminology for this process varies by region—referred to as ‘stringing’ in central North Carolina and ‘looping’ in the eastern part of the state—the practice is increasingly rare. Modern harvesting is now largely mechanized, utilizing natural gas-heated metal bulk barns.

Although North Carolina remains the leading tobacco producer in the United States, the crop has transitioned from being the state's primary cash crop to its third most valuable, trailing behind corn and soybeans. Last year, growers produced more than 248 million pounds of the leaf.