KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — The future of the Tennessee Valley Fair in Chilhowee Park remains uncertain. The fair has not held a majority of the park for decades. As the surrounding area has become more developed, the fair has lost parts of the space and been granted shorter leases from the city.
Organizers have been looking into the possibility of moving to a new location. The fair’s Marketing Director, Abby Villas, said the work is underway for this year’s fair. She said while organizers have leases for fairs through 2029, it doesn’t make the uncertainty any easier to deal with.
“Not much has changed on our end,” Villas said. “Right now, we don’t really have a lot of information about what’s going on here out at Chilhowee Park, and we’re eager to learn more about what’s happening. We have leases for those (three) fairs, but what changes after this fair is that six-month clause where six months in advance the city could let us know that anything could change with the grounds, and of course, that’s just not a lot of time.”…