Tennessee State Fairgrounds Study

General Overview   |   Project Team   |   Study Highlights   |   Key Dates   |  Comments   |

General Overview    

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County has contracted with Markin Consulting to research, assess and recommend the highest and best future use/uses of the Tennessee State Fairgrounds.  The study kicked-off on January 22, 2008 and is expected to be completed in late June/early July of 2008.  This website is intended to provide periodic updates for the general public about the study process, key issues and critical dates.

Project Team

The Project Team for this study is comprised of Markin Consulting as the Prime Contractor and HOK Smith Forkner, as the Subcontractor. 

Markin Consulting is a national consulting firm that specializes in a broad range of consulting services to the amusement and recreation industry.  Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the firm has a major emphasis and large practice serving the fair industry.  Founded in May 1990, Markin Consulting has conducted over 75 studies for fairground operations in 26 states, as well as numerous studies for arenas, amphitheaters, museums, convention facilities, equestrian facilities, tourism attractions, racetracks, and motor sports facilities.

 HOK Smith Forkner is an HOK Sport Venue Event company that specializes in the master planning and design of fairgrounds, equestrian facilities, arenas, exhibition buildings and event complexes.  HOK Smith Forkner has offices in Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee and has worked together with Markin Consulting on over 25 similar fairgrounds planning projects.

Study Highlights

The study was kicked off with a series of work sessions, interviews and meetings over the three-day period January 22 to January 24, 2008.  Work sessions and interviews were conducted with the Fair Board, Fairgrounds management and staff and representatives of Metro and the Chamber of Commerce.  Additional interviews with representatives of area tourism, sports and entertainment interests, neighborhood organizations, and the racing community, as well as users of the Fairgrounds, are slated for the early stages of the study.

Two public meetings were held - one for the neighborhood residents on January 22, 2008 and one for the general public on January 23, 2008.  About 80 people registered their attendance at the neighborhood meeting and almost 110 people signed in for the general meeting.  The bulk of the sessions of both meetings was used to gather input about the awareness of and attendance at events held at the Fairgrounds on a year-round basis, as well as to allow input and comments about issues, concerns and ideas of the current and future uses of the Fairgrounds.

Questionnaires were used to gather input from everyone in attendance and then about 45 minutes of time was provided for public comment and discussion.  Samples of the questionnaires used in these meetings can be found by clicking on the following links:

Neighborhood Meeting Questionnaire      General Public Meeting Questionnaire

According to the questionnaire responses, on the question of what role should the Fairgrounds play in the Nashville/Davidson County area, the ranking put the Home of the Tennessee State Fair at the top, followed by being an entertainment venue.  Following is a table that presents the ranking of the role the Fairgrounds should play in the community on a scale of 0 (unimportant) to 10 (very important).

The chart below presents the top ten attended events at the Tennessee State Fair in 2007, based on the results of the questionnaires from both the neighborhood and general public meetings.  The chart also shows how aware people are of events if they hadn't attended those events, as well.

The maps below show the general location of the attendees of the meetings, based on the completed questionnaires.

Neighborhood Attendees Place of Residence (shown with red pushpins)

General Attendees Place of Residence (shown with red dots)

Progress Update

We are making very good progress on the Tennessee State Fairgrounds study.  On May 6, 2008, we presented findings relative to our assessment of the annual Tennessee State Fair to the Board.  A copy of that summary report is available below (click to open or right click to download).

Tennessee State Fair Assessment Summary Report

  To recap the process of the study and related timing:

 §  The kickoff of the study to assess and recommend the long-term highest and best future use of the Fairgrounds occurred in late January 2008.

§  In March 2008, the Fair Board authorized us to first assess and offer options for the long-term viability of the annual Tennessee State Fair.  The consequence of adding this analysis was to extend the timing of the original study work process by 5 to 6 weeks.

§  On May 28, we will be presenting recommended possible options for the future use of the Fairgrounds.  The options will form the basis for our next step, which is a Request for Information (RFI) to identify interest on the part of potential partners/sponsors of the development options.  We will be presenting these options at a public meeting on the evening of May 28.

§  We expect the Request for Information phase of the study (solicitation, response and analysis) to take about 6 to 8 weeks, depending on the speed of responses.

§  Based on the responses to the RFI and our assessment of the responses, we will recommend up to 3 options for the future use of the Fairgrounds to the Fair Board.

§  Upon agreement with the recommended options, our Project Team will prepare a final assessment and recommendation for each option, based on community impacts, facility impacts, financial impacts and economic impact.  We expect that this will be completed by mid to late August.

Key Dates

A reminder – please join us at 7:00pm in Wilson Hall on Wednesday, May 28, to hear our options for the future use of the Fairgrounds.

If you would like to receive e-mail notification of key dates, including public meetings, enter your e-mail address and press submit.

Comments

Should you have any comments or questions concerning the study, fill in the following and press submit.