UPDATE: Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett said his staff met Monday and they are going to bring the local fair committee together and talk to them to see if there is any interest in bringing the Tennessee State Fair to the county. “I think our biggest hurdle will be a space with a facility that could handle an expo and stuff like that,” Durrett said.
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) A state panel is considering moving the Tennessee State Fair to a new location after more than 100 years. The Tennessee State Fair and Exposition Commission voted 9-0 Thursday to gauge if any other counties wanted to host the fair in 2019.
Clarksvillenow.com contacted Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett for his thoughts on the possibility of bringing the event to the county. “Every Monday morning we meet as a staff and we’re going to discuss it, I’ve got it on the agenda to talk about and see where it goes from there,” Durrett said.
Durrett added that we do have a fair board in Montgomery County and we may try to get that group together to get some feedback from them and who knows where it might take us.
The fair has been held in Nashville since 1906. Proposals for the new site could either be a stand-alone state fair or a year-round agriculture expo center.
Commission Chairman Bo Roberts says the current site is constrained and the commission wouldn’t expect the facility to make a significant investment for a two-week tenant. Recent fair attendance has lagged behind surrounding fairs.