The Tennessee State Fair is an annual

state fair A state fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in th ...

, formerly held in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. Until 2021, the fair was generally held in the second week of September, as well as the weekends surrounding it. The fair regularly had attendance over 200,000 people per year while located at the Nashville Fairgrounds.About , 2011 Tennessee State Fair
/ref> The State Fairgrounds have been under scrutiny since Nashville Mayor

Karl Dean Karl Foster Dean (born September 20, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 6th Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Nashville's Director of Law under Mayor Bill P ...

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 Tennessee State Fair and Exposition Commission granted the Tennessee State Fair to the non-profit organization Tennessee State Fair Association through 2018. After 2019, the fair was moved to the Wilson County Fairgrounds in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

and held in conjunction with the much larger Wilson County Fair.

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 The Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition was an exposition held in Nashville from May 1 – October 31, 1897 in what is now Centennial Park. A year late, it celebrated the 100th anniversary of Tennessee's entry into the union in 17 ...

, and has since become known as Centennial Park.Friends of Metro Archives Nashville and Davidson County
/ref> The current incarnation of the State Fair began in 1906, and has been held annually, except for four years during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, through the Great Depression, a 1965 fire that destroyed the majority of the fairgrounds, a 1970 fire that ruined the fair's coliseum, and 2020 on grounds of

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. 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. Part of the site was re-developed for the

Nashville Fairgrounds Stadium Geodis Park, formerly known as Nashville SC Stadium and Nashville Fairgrounds Stadium, is a 30,000-seat soccer-specific stadium at the historic Nashville Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the home of Major League Soccer club Nashville SC ...

for

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

of Major League Soccer. Concerns included parking, location for the carnival and midway, and adequate space and facilities for farm animal and agricultural exhibitions. After not hosting the fair in 2020 due to the

, it was announced in May 2021 that the fair would be moved to the Wilson County Fairgrounds in Lebanon, Tennessee, and held in conjunction with the Wilson County Fair in mid-August, earlier than the traditional September date.

References

External links

Tennessee State Fair websiteHistorical Fairground PhotosMetro Nashville Board of Fair Commissioners
{{coord missing, Tennessee Fairs in Tennessee

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Annual events in Tennessee Annual fairs Events in Nashville, Tennessee September events Tourist attractions in Nashville, Tennessee Festivals established in 1906 1855 establishments in Tennessee