After more than 100 years, Tennessee State Fair might leave Nashville's fairgrounds

Joey Garrison | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Tennessee State Fair 2016 Sights and sounds from the 2016 Tennessee State Fair.

The state fair has been held at The Fairground Nashville for a century.

About 100,000 people attended the state fair in 2015, while 500,000 attended the Wilson County Fair.

One thought was to have the fair on a new complex built next to Bonnaroo, but that idea wasn't recommended.

A state commission is set to consider relocating the Tennessee State Fair from The Fairgrounds Nashville, the event's home for the past century.

The panel that oversees the state fair — which has seen years of struggling attendance that has lagged behind the fairs in Wilson and Williamson counties — will vote on a proposal Thursday to begin searching for a new home away from Nashville's Metro-owned fairgrounds.

Beginning in 2019, the goal would be to move the state fair from Nashville's fairgrounds near Nolensville Pike and Wedgewood Avenue, which has hosted the state fair since 1906.

It would likely mean holding the two-week Tennessee State Fair outside Nashville, where state fairs have taken place since the mid-19th century.

Bo Roberts, chairman of the Tennessee State Fair and Exposition Commission — which holds the naming rights for the state fair and contracts with a nonprofit group to operate the annual event in September — plans to ask his nine-member board at the Thursday meeting to take action that would signal interest to all 95 Tennessee counties that a new location is desired.

"Our state fair ranks about at the bottom any way you want to measure it," said Roberts, who works as a marketing executive in Nashville.

"Things change. Times change. Demands change," he said. "Other fairs certainly have grown well beyond where the state fair is. It's served its purpose and left its time for anything that I think would be worthy of the state fair."

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Proposals could include a stand-alone state fair or the construction of a year-round agriculture expo where a state fair would take place. An agriculture expo center also would be equipped for livestock, agricultural and equine industries as well as other events such as trade shows and concerts.

The commission recently explored the possibility of having the state fair on a new fairgrounds complex that would be built next to the site of the popular music and arts festival Bonnaroo in Manchester. But the idea wasn't seen as the best option in a recent consultants report.

Roberts intends to recommend that the commission continue to hold a state fair this year and in 2018 at The Fairgrounds Nashville, which is managed by the Metro Board of Fair Commissioners. The upcoming state fair is set to take place Sept. 8-17.

'A starting point for the conversation'

The Tennessee State Fair and Exposition Commission has two years left in a contract with the Tennessee State Fair Association, a group of agricultural leaders that has worked with the Metro fair board to put on a state fair.

“Once we hear the proposal we will be able to discuss it as a commission and then decide how best to proceed," Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Jai Templeton, who sits on the commission, said in a statement.

"This is a starting point for the conversation about the future of the Tennessee State Fair," he said. "There are only two years left under the current agreement and we know there are questions about the vision for the fairgrounds in Nashville. Part of our role is to help determine if there is a consensus among stakeholders about what that future of the fair might look like.”

A potential move comes as Nashville Mayor Megan Barry's administration is working on plans for a future Major League Soccer stadium at Nashville's fairgrounds as the city competes for an MLS expansion club.

The fairgrounds, which is undergoing a series of upgrades that include new park space, is also home to the Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville and an expo center that houses regular flea markets — all entities that Barry has said she plans to keep intact with the stadium.

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Metro fair board chairman Ned Horton said he isn't surprised by the state fair's possible move from Nashville, saying, "This was the slope we started going down when this facility was going to close."

He was referencing former Mayor Karl Dean's unsuccessful attempt to redevelop the fairgrounds in 2011.

Horton said he believes the commission is taking a "long-term" view of the fair and said the fairgrounds and state fair are on separate tracks at this point.

"Protecting interests of the Tennessee State Fair is their job, so it doesn't surprise me they would look at all options," Horton said. "I don't think they'll leave us out of the conversation ultimately."

Report calls Nashville fairgrounds inadequate for state fair

A recent consultant report conducted by Minnesota-based Convention Sports & Leisure International — prompted by the Bonnaroo talks — found that Nashville's 117-acre fairgrounds, which sits on hilly terrain, is not a viable long-term solution for hosting the Tennessee State Fair.

The report says the site is "problematic on many levels and is significantly constraining the growth, attendance and impact of the fair."

In 2015, around 100,000 people attended the state fair in Nashville, compared with some 200,000 who attended the Williamson County Fair and more than 500,000 people who attended the Wilson County Fair. The Tennessee State Fair is also dwarfed by state fairs in other states.

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The study recommends 600 acres for a state fair and potential agriculture expo center, making Nashville's fairgrounds vastly undersized.

Though the report doesn't advise a specific location, it recommends a future state fair have close proximity to an interstate. The analysis also suggests a higher success rate if a state fair and center are within the parameters of Interstate 840. This would include Williamson, Wilson and Rutherford counties.

Bonnaroo explored for new state fairgrounds complex, but not recommended

Talks between Gov. Bill Haslam's administration and Bonnaroo, which is operated by Live Nation, about a possible joint venture began in 2015 and led to the consultant study on the state fair.

The feasibility analysis set out to explore a new fairgrounds complex at the Bonnaroo site that also would serve as the new home for the state fair. It followed previous work by the architecture firm Populous Inc. on how the Bonnaroo-agriculture center project could work.

The report found that the Bonnaroo site is sufficient physically for new facilities and infrastructure, but it says its rural Manchester location would likely mean the state fair would struggle with attendance.

Consultants instead singled out the Murfreesboro area as a preferable location for a state fair.

"Frankly, I thought those numbers would come back really strong because of the association with Bonnaroo and Live Nation," Roberts said. "But what the report did show is that a state fair really is not going to work where it is."

State dollars sought for true state fair

Roberts said talks about a new site are not meant to be critical of the Metro fair board or the Tennessee State Fair Association.

He also said that to become a true state fair, Tennessee would ultimately need to help pay for the event and facilities. Right now, he said, the state pays nothing.

Roberts suggested it might be more appealing for the state to help finance an agriculture expo center that could be used year-round, including for the state fair.

Haslam's administration isn't ready to commit any money toward the state fair or a possible state agricultural center.

Dave Smith, a spokesman for Haslam, called it too early to discuss capital dollars for the 2018-19 budget.

"The governor will continue, as he has done throughout his time in office, to take a thoughtful and deliberate approach to the state’s budget and how tax dollars are spent," Smith said.

Reach Joey Garrison at jgarrison@tennessean.com or 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.