Charlie Barefoot & Sons

10/15/2026

These 8 NC State Fair food vendors aren’t coming back this year

08/27/2026

🚨We have a limited quantity of shirts left from last year. These will be first come first served. Until gone! Please let us know if you would like to have one. Local pickup only, Clayton area.
🚫Medium- SOLD OUT
🚫XL - SOLD OUT
🚫XXL- SOLD OUT

💲2️⃣0️⃣each

08/19/2026

We found out something today that somehow slipped past us, and if we missed it, we figure some of y’all did too.

Charlie Barefoot & Sons won’t be at the North Carolina State Fair this year.

And I’ll admit, that one got me.

They’ve been there since 1949.

SEVENTY SIX YEARS.

Long before anybody held a hot dog up like Simba so the internet could see what they were eating, Charlie “The Hotdog Man” Barefoot and Leone “The Original Fry Queen” Barefoot were feeding people at the State Fair.

And I suppose I never considered the possibility they might not be there.

That’s the strange thing about getting older. You spend the first half of your life assuming certain things are permanent simply because they’ve always been there. The State Fair comes in October. Dorton Arena sits there looking like somebody dropped a spaceship in Raleigh. By lunchtime it will be 78 degrees despite the fact you wore a hoodie because it was 49 when you left home, so now the hoodie is tied around your waist. And somewhere in all that noise and livestock and midway music and smells coming from seventeen directions at once, there was Charlie Barefoot’s.

As sure as anything.

I remember my Pops taking me.

“If you don’t go to Challie Barefoots, you didn’t go to the fair” he’d say every year like a well tuned watch.

I remember riding the Gravitron with mustard on my shirt from Charlie’s, or “Chahlie’s,” if you say it like the country folks I grew up around. I remember being young enough that eating a hot dog immediately before getting on something designed to spin me against a wall seemed like perfectly sound judgment.

I was not.

A lot of us did.

That’s why this feels bigger than finding out a food stand won’t be at the fair anymore. Their family watched our families grow up. Somewhere along the way, the kids our Pops brought to the fair became the grown folks bringing kids of our own, pointing at the same places and saying something I understand a whole lot better now.

“We always stop here.”

That sentence means more to me than it used to.

Because eventually you learn that “always” has an expiration date.

Joe and Billy Barefoot said age and some minor health issues finally made this year the one they couldn’t make work. After 76 years, Charlie Barefoot & Sons is coming to an end.

I hate that. But mostly I’m grateful.

Grateful my Pops took me. Grateful they stayed long enough for so many of us to have a Charlie Barefoot story. Grateful somebody kept showing up every October while the rest of us grew up, got married, had children, lost people, and kept coming back through those gates a little older than we were the year before.

Nobody told us it was the last one.

We just ate our Chahlie Barefoot’s and walked away figuring we’d see ’em next October.

Pops always said if you didn’t go to Chahlie Barefoot’s, you didn’t go to the fair.

I reckon this October I’m finally gonna understand exactly what he meant.

05/28/2026

Charlie Barefoot & Sons, the North Carolina State Fair’s longest-running vendor, says it will not return in 2026 after 76 years at the fair.

05/27/2026

💔🌭💔

One of the oldest food vendors at the NC State Fair won’t be serving its beloved hot dogs this year.

05/24/2026

This by far is the hardest post we have ever had to make.

After 76 unforgettable years at the North Carolina State Fair, this is one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever had to make.

Since 1949, October has been more than just a month to our family — it has been a tradition, a way of life, and a time we looked forward to every single year. What Charlie “The Hotdog Man” & Leone Barefoot, “The Original Fry Queen,” started all those years ago became something much bigger than we ever imagined.

Due to minor health issues and the reality that comes with age, we have made the heartbreaking decision that we will not be attending the 2026 NC State Fair. We have spent countless hours trying to find another way, but unfortunately, we simply cannot make it work.

Over the years, we’ve had the blessing of watching families grow in front of us — seeing 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th generations stop by our stand year after year. We’ve also felt the loss of many loyal customers and dear friends who became part of our fair family along the way. Those memories are something we will cherish forever.

Charlie, Leone, and Tommy loved the fair deeply, and so did we. The stories we could tell would last a lifetime, and every one of them holds a special place in our hearts.

We especially want to thank our wives, daughters, sons-in-laws, grandchildren, family & friends for the years of hard work, sacrifice, and love they poured into this business. None of this would have been possible without them.

And to all of you — thank you. Thank you for your support, your kindness, and for making us part of your family traditions for so many years. We will miss you more than words can ever express.

While Charlie Barefoot & Sons is coming to an end, the memories we made together will last forever. 💙

Joe & Billy Barefoot