The Tennessee Valley Fair announced this week that it is “thrilled to explore the next chapter of the fair experience” at AgriCentre East, a branded destination campus that is at present 120 acres of cattle pasture on Rutledge Pike.
Knox County is eyeing the acreage, part of the 167-acre Strong Stock Farm, as a new agricultural center and possible future fairground. The fair has operated at Chilhowee Park since 1916, but its lease runs only through 2029, and MUSE Knoxville takes over the Jacob Building next month.
“After 110 incredible years, we’re excited to reimagine what a fair can be,” the fair’s statement read, in the precise tone of a company announcing its headquarters is moving to Nashville.
The AgriCentre East name was produced by the placemaking consultancy Hearth & Vector following a $140,000 naming study. “The British spelling of ‘Centre’ adds approximately 22 percent placemaking,” explained principal Davis Lyle. “And ‘East’ establishes it as east of things, which our research confirmed it is.”
Renderings distributed at the announcement show a Ferris wheel, three food halls, and a “flexible livestock experience,” none of which have been designed, funded, or approved. The site currently hosts beef cattle, who appear in the renderings as smaller, cleaner, and more enthusiastic than the cattle in attendance.
The Chilhowee Park Advisory Group wished the fair well and noted the departure would free the midway footprint for the park’s proposed larger lake.
Longtime fairgoer Doyle Hankins, of Corryton, was untroubled by the possible move. “I’ve been coming since 1974. If the fair goes, I’ll go where it goes,” he said. “It’s the same funnel cake either way.”
The fair’s lease at Chilhowee Park runs through 2029. The site remains a pasture.