A colorful North Carolina state-fair food spread with cheese-curd tacos, a country-ham biscuit, plantain boats, churro nachos, fried okra, and a bright drink, with a Ferris wheel and fair lights in the background.

The countdown is officially on: the **158th annual N.C. State Fair** returns to Raleigh **October 15–25**, and the food lineup is as ambitious as ever. Fair organizers have announced **80 new sweets, treats, and over-the-top creations** for 2026.

This year’s newcomers are not playing it safe.

The menu includes a **Carolina Yam N Ham Biscuit**, **Brisket Cheese Curd Tacos**, **Little Haiti Plantain Boats**, **Cajun Fried Okra**, and **Strawberry Cheesecake Churro Nachos**—just to name a few.

If your fair strategy is to share bites with friends, this is your moment. There are savory picks, sweet picks, fried picks, and a few combinations that practically require a group text before you commit.

The fair has a reputation for making food part of the adventure, and this year’s menu gives Raleigh locals plenty to look forward to before the gates even open. Start building your must-try list now—because 80 new options is a lot of delicious decision-making.

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A welcoming historic Raleigh house used as a collaborative arts hub, with three bright pink rocking chairs on the porch and local artists mingling among colorful gallery art inside.

A small house on West Morgan Street is becoming a meaningful new address for Raleigh’s creative community. **Jobe House** serves as shared office, exhibition, event, and residency space for local arts organizations and working artists.

The home opened as an arts hub in March and currently houses **VAE Raleigh** and **Arts Access**, which share downstairs office space. Upstairs, it is hosting Artspace’s current Emerging Artist in Residence, Sky Dai, with another room available for visiting artists.

Flexibility is built into the space. Its main floor can shift from exhibits and artist discussions to craft events, shared working sessions, and monthly dinners. The team has also set aside some mornings as office hours for artists who need a little room—and community—to move their practice forward.

Accessibility has been a central priority, too. The house includes a porch ramp, wheelchair-friendly rooms, lower-hung artwork, large-print descriptions, and audio descriptions for exhibits. With vivid pink rocking chairs on the porch and a collaborative spirit inside, Jobe House feels designed for both making art and making connections.

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Health-care leaders and construction workers break ground on a future medical campus in Research Triangle Park, with shovels, hard hats, a modern hospital building, and North Carolina trees under a clear sky.

A major new health-care project is moving from plan to reality in Research Triangle Park. **UNC Health** has broken ground on a new hospital campus at **3490 Hopson Road Extension** in Durham, on the edge of RTP.

The hospital is expected to open in **2032** with **144 beds** and around **1,000 employees**, according to UNC. A separate medical office building with an oncology focus is planned for **2028**, offering an earlier milestone for the 48-acre site.

The project comes as the Triangle continues to grow and hospital systems compete to bring care closer to new and expanding communities. UNC Health says the location will help improve access for patients from Raleigh and Cary, while supporting research, clinical trials, and innovation.

For Raleigh residents, this is the kind of long-term regional development that can shape where and how people receive care in the years ahead. It is still a long runway to opening day, but the groundbreaking marks a significant step toward more capacity in one of the country’s fastest-growing regions.

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