RALEIGH - Five years ago, Meagan Ivanov and Dusty Kiser had their first date on the Ferris wheel at the State Fair. This year, they got engaged there.

Ivanov of Fuquay-Varina, a third-year law student at Campbell University, said she and Kiser began dating when they were both undergraduates at UNC-Chapel Hill.

They stayed together even after she enrolled at law school in Raleigh and he went to nursing school in Charlotte. And despite living across the state, they have made sure to attend the State Fair every year.

On Oct.16, Kiser, 24, suggested they ride the Ferris wheel again, the first time since their first date. When they got to the top, he pulled out the ring.

"I was so shocked; I just started crying," Ivanov, 25, said Saturday. "He's been joking with me, saying that I forgot to say yes."

She said they hope to marry next summer, after she graduates and passes the bar exam.