The fair takes place every autumn on the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds (formerly the Forsyth County Fairgrounds), which is part of the Winston-Salem Entertainment-Sports Complex; the grounds are next to the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
In 2007, 371,219 people attended, setting a record that ranked the fair as the 50th-best-attended in North America.
The fair began in the former town of Salem as a grain exposition in 1882 (2007 was the 125th anniversary).
[1] Until 2019, the event was most commonly known as just the Dixie Classic Fair.
In October 2019, the Winston-Salem City Council voted to change the name because "Dixie" was seen as lauding the slave-owning and secessionist Confederate States of America.