The Tennessee Valley Fair we know today was born in 1916; however, we can trace its origins back to the earliest years of the last century. It began as an idea in the minds of a group of progressive and idealistic Knoxvillians who dreamed of making their city a shining centerpiece of a prosperous and modernized Appalachian.

Lead by the regions most enterprising citizens – businessmen, publishers, educators, and others, they conceived the idea of bringing a great exposition which would serve as a showcase for Knoxville and all of southern Appalachia, drawing national attention to the city’s promising commerce and industry and to the region’s bountiful (but as yet undeveloped) natural and human resources. Thus was born the Appalachian Exposition of 1910.

The 1910 Exposition was a tremendous success and continued in 1911 and 1913. After much negotiation, organizers promoted an annual Fair named the East Tennessee Division Fair which was first held in 1916. The Fair promoted improved methods of agriculture and raising livestock, but also displayed the improvements of labor, industry, education, and science.

In 1916, the first Fair set a pattern for all those which followed over the next nine decades. In 1932, the Fair rechartered as a non-profit and renamed the Tennessee Valley Agricultural and Industrial Fair.

The Fair struck a healthy balance between entertainment and education, between lighthearted fun and serious business. It highlighted the products of East Tennessee’s farms (in close cooperation with the University of Tennessee’s Agriculture Department and Extension Service), but also drew attention to the regions industry and commerce. Moreover, the Fair awarded premiums to encourage farmers and homemakers to improve their products, stimulated competition among the region’s counties and communities for recognition of their achievements and showed Fairgoers the latest innovations for home and farm.

A great deal of the Fair remains unchanged; the Midway today offers much of the same of thrills and oddities as it did ninety years earlier, and the Fair’s nightly fireworks seem to never lose their appeal with Fairgoers of all ages. Most importantly, whatever the effects of social, economic, and technological change in the world around it, the Fair remains for all East Tennesseans a place to learn, to compete, to have fun, and most of all to make memories.