Raleigh Fair Hosts Annual Tobacco Stringing Contest

The event highlights traditional harvesting skills for operators in North Carolina's third-largest cash crop market.

Updated on Oct. 21, 2026 in Agriculture

Screen-print poster illustration showing weathered hands tying tobacco leaf bundles to a wooden stick, highlighting traditional agricultural harvesting techniques. — The Benson Nites team won the annual tobacco stringing contest at the North Carolina State Fair, highlighting traditional hand-harvesting techniques. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Is it important for communities to keep historical agricultural traditions alive through public contests?

The Benson Nites team secured first place in the North Carolina State Fair tobacco stringing contest, completing the task in one minute and four seconds. The annual event highlights manual harvesting techniques used in a state that remains the leading producer of tobacco in the United States.

Why it matters

The contest serves as a cultural touchstone for North Carolina agriculture, honoring a manual tradition that preceded modern mechanical harvesting. It draws attention to a sector that generated $546 million in total crop value last year across more than 248 million pounds of production.

North Carolina remains the top U.S. tobacco producer, with last year's output reaching 248 million pounds and $546 million in value. Twelve teams competed in the fair event, where winners secured a $250 prize for their work.

The players

Benson Nites

The competitive team that finished in first place in the tobacco stringing contest.

Oxford Tobacco Research Station

A research facility that provided the tobacco leaves used in the fair competition.

The details

In the contest, handers gather leaf clumps and pass them to a stringer who wraps twine around the stems and a wooden stick. Teams are required to tie at least 36 bundles per stick, and their work must pass a shake test to ensure no leaves fall from the bundle. The tobacco used for this year's competition was sourced from the Oxford Tobacco Research Station.

October 16, 2026: Teams competed in the tobacco stringing contest.

Market Landscape

This competition offers a look at traditional manual techniques in an industry that has moved toward widespread mechanization. It contrasts sharply with the high-volume production methods currently defining the agricultural sector in North Carolina.

Operators in the state's agricultural sector should monitor production benchmarks and yield reports to gauge market performance relative to historical averages. While the contest remains ceremonial, it underscores the ongoing importance of crop quality and efficient handling in the regional tobacco market.

The takeaway

The contest highlights the enduring cultural link between modern North Carolina agriculture and its labor-intensive roots. Operators can track long-term viability in this cash crop by comparing annual state yield reports against fluctuating soybean and corn values.