The Tennessee State Fair is an annual state fair, held in Nashville, Tennessee. The fair is generally held in the second week of September, as well as the weekends surrounding it. The fair regularly has attendance over 200,000 people per year. The State Fairgrounds have been under scrutiny since Nashville Mayor Karl Dean announced the closure of the fairgrounds in 2009. After much controversy, a referendum on the city's ability to redevelop the fairgrounds for other uses was held, with the voters choosing to increase the required votes to make changes from a simple majority to two-thirds majority. The TennesseeState Fair and Exposition Commission has granted the Tennessee State Fair to the non-profit organization Tennessee State Fair Association through 2018.
History
The first Tennessee State Fair was held in 1855, but only lasted a few years. The property where the old fairs were held on was later used for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, and has since become known as Centennial Park. The current incarnation of the State Fair began in 1906, and has been held annually, except for four years during World War II, through the Great Depression, a 1965 fire that destroyed the majority of the fairgrounds, and a 1970 fire that ruined the fair's coliseum. Originally run by the State of Tennessee, the state relinquished control of the fair to Davidson County in 1923, who created The Metropolitan Board of Fair Commissioners to operate the fair. In 2011, the Metropolitan Board of Fair Commissioners leased the event to the Tennessee State Fair Association, a non-profit created to operate the State Fair. In March 2019, the Tennessee State Fair Commission voted to move the fair from the Nashville Fairgrounds after 2019 over space concerns at the site after the site is re-developed for Nashville Fairgrounds Stadium for the upcoming Nashville SC of Major League Soccer. Concerns included parking, location for the carnival and midway, and adequate space and facilities for farm animal and agricultural exhibitions. A new fair site has not been determined and Metropolitan Board maintains that the fair can return. No fair was held between 1942 and 1945 because of World WarII nor will there be one in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was to blame. http://tnfairs.com/member-fairs/Notes
