The Wilson County Fair-Tennessee State Fair came to a close over the weekend after bringing in 861,425 people to the fairgrounds.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the most successful fair that we have ever done in our 45 years,鈥 Fair President Randall Clemons said. 鈥淥ur volunteers did a wonderful job putting it together and operating it and managing it. It was a very smooth operating fair. Our numbers speak to the success.鈥
Clemons said that Aug. 17 saw the highest attendance numbers for the year with 145,880 visitors.
鈥淲e broke records for Sunday, Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night and Thursday night, so all of our weekday nights saw strong increases,鈥 Clemons said.
There were over 122,000 more visitors to the Wilson County Fair-Tennessee State Fair this year, breaking the record attendance of 739,315 visitors in 2023.
鈥淲e had great weather, which was a great factor in our numbers,鈥 Clemons said. 鈥淲e also had such a great increase in participation in all of our events.鈥
This year鈥檚 fair included new exhibits in the newly dedicated Hale Moss Building and a new livestock barn. Over the course of 10 days, the fair hosted over 150 events, 150 livestock shows, entertainment across 15 stages and over 60 midway rides.
鈥淭hroughout the week, everybody that came had the opportunity to learn about agriculture,鈥 Clemons said. 鈥淲e had agriculture displays in all our ag buildings. We鈥檝e gone to another level in trying to help educate. We had a lot of hands-on demonstrations as well, which was very beneficial.鈥
Clemons said 1,500 4-H and FFA students participated in 30 competitions last Monday.
鈥淲e have been proud of taking over the Tennessee State Fair and how successful it has been while at the same time, keeping the Wilson County Fair like it鈥檚 always been and continuing to showcase Wilson County and have all the events we have for Wilson County only.鈥
The fair saw substantial support and participation in events open to entries statewide, and for its 95-county showcase.
鈥淲e had people visit the fair from all 50 states, all 95 counties and we had 38 different countries,鈥 Clemons said.
Looking toward next year, Clemons said that the fair will continue to expand its parking options and will continue work on traffic control. According to Clemons, this year鈥檚 satellite parking options were the most successful they鈥檝e ever been.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.