A nonprofit association was selected today to run the 2013 Tennessee State Fair after another bidder said it wasn’t ready to make a formal presentation.
The Tennessee State Fair and Exposition Commission, a state agency, picked the Tennessee State Fair Association to operate the fair next September, said Tom Womack, a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture. The commission also said it hopes eventually to start designating a fair operator for multiple years rather than a year at a time.
Womack said Agriculture Commissioner Julius Johnson, a member of the commission, felt it was important to go ahead and decide who will run next year’s fair to provide “the best opportunity for success.” The Tennessee State Fair Association also ran the 2011 and 2012 fairs.
The other bidder, Delta Ag-Business, asked the commission to delay the decision so it could have time to make a more formal presentation, Womack said. Delta Ag-Business also competed for the 2011 fair, but the Metro fair board, which was awarding the contract at the time, decided the group had provided inaccurate information about its leadership.
Metro’s fair board still controls use of the Tennessee State Fairgrounds and must decide whether to lease the site to the state fair association next year. And the state and the association still need to put together a written agreement, Womack said.
