News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Warren County Agriculture Commission is working to regain its pre-COVID momentum towards building an expo center.
Commission Chair Jon Flanders said creating a public/private partnership will be key to showing the community what an expo center could bring. Flanders said without an expo center there’s no starting point for major events.
“Otherwise it’s just a bunch of dispersed people involved in various sectors of agriculture,” Flanders said. “None of them individually big enough to host major events. None of them organized enough to bring the kind of resources that it takes to pull an event like that off, logistically, administratively from a promotional aspect.”
Flanders said once it’s created, the options for what can be held extend beyond agriculture. That includes, monster truck rallies, trade shows, gun shows and Warren County’s own seasonal events.
Flanders said in-person outreach can begin when COVID restrictions are lifted and can be done confidently. He said this is the first tangible step to raising awareness for the expo center need.
“Events where you can draw crowds and put people on buses,” Flanders said. “I think the tangible event would be to line up a bus tour of agriculture in Warren County. That would be the first, next step.”
Flanders said the public partnership with the Ag Commission starts with the local government. He said the private partnership starts with leaders in the agriculture community.
“I’ve presented information to the Warren County Commission, the Ag Subcommittee seems very receptive in helping us do that,” Flanders said. “The private part is people I’ve picked to be on the board. People like Regan Kelsey, who is President of the Warren County Fair Board. Morgan Adcock, who is President of the Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association and some of the people in the cattle industry I know fairly well.”
However, Flanders said he would like to see the Warren County Agriculture Commission grow into something larger than Governor Lee’s Rural Task Force Initiative. He said the Governor’s Three Star Goals Program is limited to promotional, tourism and educational aspects.
“My idea is to expand that and make it bigger and use this Warren County Ag Commission as the jumping off point,” Flanders said. “To develop maybe a follow on task force or an independent commission under the Warren County Commission. That takes what we’re building on and what we’re promoting and turns it into a tangible reality. That is broader, and bigger than the original scope of the Governor’s initiative.”
He said at this time the commission is trying to do outreach online through social media. Flanders said he was approached by Couny Executive Jimmy Haley to form the commission in 2019.
