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FAN FAIR
ATTENDANCE UP IN 2002
Event Continues to Grow with Non-Stop Excitement, More Music and Fun
 NASHVILLE
-- Fan Fair 2002 made an impressive return to Downtown Nashville,
Thursday through Sunday, June 13-16, with an aggregate attendance
of more than 126,500 – making it the biggest crowd in Fan Fair’s
31-year history. Enlarging the event and improving on the successes
of Fan Fair’s move to Downtown Nashville in 2001, “The World’s Biggest
Country Music Festival” provided more activities, more stars and
more music for the fans to enjoy.
“I’m happy to say it was a big success,” said Ed Benson, Executive Director of CMA. “At a time when concert ticket sales are soft, we were able to hold the line and actually increase our attendance. More importantly, the improvements we made for Fan Fair 2002 were appreciated by the fans and the hundreds of artists who participated. Thanks to the breadth of activities, music and venues Fan Fair has evolved into an extraordinary, world-class musical event.”
 Nightly
Concerts
More than 40 artists participated in the star-studded nightly concerts
at Adelphia Coliseum during the four days. The coliseum set up featured
new state-of-the-art staging with improved sight lines and more
seating. Even the traditional finale fireworks displays were bigger
and better for 2002. Many of Country Music’s hottest stars took
to the Adelphia stage, including Trace Adkins, Brooks & Dunn,
Kenny Chesney, Billy Ray Cyrus, Diamond Rio, Alan Jackson, George
Jones, Toby Keith, Martina McBride, Jo Dee Messina, John Michael
Montgomery, Rascal Flatts, Earl Scruggs, SHeDAISY, Cyndi Thomson,
keith urban and Lee Ann Womack. One of the most popular elements
of the nightly concerts at Fan Fair continued to be the photo line,
where fans get close to the stage for shots of their favorite artists.
Country superstars Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn kicked off the nightly concerts and brought the screaming fans to their feet with the patriotic anthem “Only In America,” jumpstarting the RCA Label Group show. The star-filled concert featured outstanding performances, including Alan Jackson, who ended his set with a poignant performance of “Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning,” which he debuted on the CMA Awards in November 2001.
 Greased
Lightning Riverfront Park Stages
The Greased Lightning Riverfront Park Stages, bustled with a rich
array of artists from both major and independent labels, showcased
a broad range of musical influences and styles from classic to alternative
Country, and proved to be one of Fan Fair’s favorite new venues.
The Bellamy Brothers kicked off the excitement Thursday morning and by late Sunday, more than 70 artists had performed including Sherrié Austin; Steve Azar; David Ball; Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash; Chad Brock; Lane Brody; Tracy Byrd; Jeff Carson; Kellie Coffey (who also appeared at Adelphia); Earl Thomas Conley; Rodney Crowell; David Frizzell; Andy Griggs; Eric Heatherly; Marie Sisters; McBride & The Ride; Brian McComas; Tift Merritt; Craig Morgan; David Nail; Nashville Bluegrass Band; The Oak Ridge Boys; James Otto; Lee Roy Parnell; Eddy Raven; Dan Seals; Shenandoah; Anthony Smith; Connie Smith; the reunion of Joe Stampley & Moe Bandy; Tommy Shane Steiner; Kevin Welch; Darryl Worley and Billy Yates.
NBC Daytime stars Matt Cedeno, Justin Carroll, Melissa Reeves and Bruce Michael Hall took the stage to participate and banter back and forth with the fans.
 Exhibit
Halls
A total of 445 artists appeared in the air-conditioned Exhibit Hall
at the Nashville Convention Center for the autograph and photo sessions
Thursday through Sunday. Fan attendance in the Hall exceeded 46,000,
up 21% from last year when the Hall was only open three days.
Fans lined up early (some as early as 2:00 AM) for admittance to the Exhibit Hall in hopes of meeting their favorite Country stars. Among the artists who had long lines at their booths were Trace Adkins, Alabama, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tracy Lawrence, Rascal Flatts, Andy Griggs, Brad Paisley, Jo Dee Messina, Neal McCoy, Blake Shelton, Tommy Shane Steiner, Pam Tillis and Lee Ann Womack.
Superstar group Lonestar turned the tables on fans at the Exhibit Hall having thousands of fans do the autograph signing on a special wall in their booth. Billy Hoffman transformed his booth into an Old West Saloon, complete with barstools where his fans could sit and talk.
A wall mural with Alan Jackson riding shotgun in a Jeep with his “video” family from “Drive” adorned his booth. Bryan White invited his fans to fish in his booth, which was inspired by bait and tackle shops. At the Bush’s Country Style Baked Beans booth, fans could get their photo with Jay Bush and his dog Duke and e-mail it to their family and friends.
 Stars
of NBC Daytime
The stars of NBC’s daytime dramas “Days of Our Lives” and “Passions”
made a return trip to Fan Fair in 2002. The enthusiastic stars hosted
the Sony show at Adelphia Coliseum Friday night, signed autographs
in the Exhibit Hall and hosted a sold-out Fan Fair After Hours event
at the Wildhorse Saloon. The actors sang, read scripts with fans
and performed with Country artists Michael Peterson and keith urban
– proving that acting isn’t their only talent.
Melissa Reeves (“Jennifer” on “Days of our Lives”) and James Hyde (“Sam” on “Days”) kicked off the show by introducing Kyle Lowder (“Brady” on “Days”), who got the fans to sing along as he performed "90 miles to Baton Rouge.” Other soaps stars showing off their singing talents included Lindsay Korman (“Theresa” on “Passions”), who performed “How Do I Live,” and Peter Reckell (“Bo” on “Days”), who performed a song from his new album.
Other stars participating in Fan Fair included Matthew Ashford (“Jack” on “Days”),
Matt Cedeno (“Brandon” on “Days”), Arianne Zucker (“Nicole” on “Days”),
Andrea Evans (“Rebecca” on “Passions”), Christopher Douglas (“Brian”
on “Passions”), Justin Carroll (“David” on Passions”), and Bruce
Michael Hall (“Reese” on “Passions”).
 Fan
Fair After Hours
Long after the concerts were finished at Adelphia Coliseum, the
music and fun were still alive at many of Nashville’s most popular
downtown nightspots during Fan Fair After Hours. A dozen clubs including
Buffalo Billiards, Graham Central Station, The Stage, Hard Rock
Café, Legends Corner, Tootsie’s Orchard Lounge and the Wildhorse
Saloon hosted Fan Fair attendees for more of Nashville’s best entertainment
well into the night.
Fan Fair Activities
The first “CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards” provided an exciting new lead in for Fan Fair 2002 with many stars, including the Dixie Chicks, who were on hand to receive the special Flameworthy Video Visionary Award. Hosted by actress Kathy Najimy, awards were presented in 12 categories for video excellence.
After the Awards, Marty Stuart hosted “Marty Stuart’s Late Night Jam” at the Ryman Auditorium. The After Hours event, which also featured performance by Montgomery Gentry, Travis Tritt and several others, had fans on their feet singing and dancing until the wee hours of the morning
 For
the first time at Fan Fair, the “Wheel of Fortune” Wheelmobile rolled
into Music City, USA in search of contestants to appear on the popular
game show. The two-day auditions began Friday, June 14 at the Gaylord
Entertainment Center in Downtown Nashville. Participants were chosen
from the audience at random to play a scaled-down version of the
game, spinning a small wheel for prizes and guessing letters to
complete a puzzle. Country star Pam Tillis and “Passions” star James
Hyde both made a surprise visit at the auditions to cheer-on thousands
of eager contestants. “Wheel of Fortune” will be back in January
2003 to tape several shows at the Grand Ole Opry House for “Country
Music Stars Week.”
The Fan Fair Celebrity Archery Shoot-Out Friday, June 14, scored a bulls-eye list of shooting stars. Country artists competed in the parking lot of Adelphia Coliseum. RCA recording artist Andy Griggs, who hosted the event, took the top prize with 106 points, leading his competitors to joke that it was “rigged.” Other artists who participated include Tracy Byrd, Jeff Carson, Gary Levox of Rascal Flatts, Chris Marcy, Brad Paisley, Joshua Ragsdale, Blake Shelton, Rusty Tabor, Neil Thrasher and Darryl Worley.
 Fan
Fair Radio Partner MJI
CMA’s official Fan Fair radio partner MJI Programming, a division
of Premiere Radio Networks, brought to Nashville some of Country
Radio’s top-rated stations for a four-day remote that covered the
excitement of Fan Fair from the Nashville Convention Center. Among
the dozens of artists who took the opportunity to visit with fans
via radio were Chris Cagle, Diamond Rio, Sara Evans, Alan Jackson,
Lonestar, Martina McBride, Jo Dee Messina, Jamie O’Neal, Brad Paisley,
Cyndi Thomson, Trick Pony, Phil Vassar, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood
and many others including the NBC soap opera stars.
Stations taking part were WUSN-Chicago, WMZQ-Washington D.C., KSD-St. Louis, WFMS-Indianapolis, WCOL-Columbus, WKKT-Charlotte, WDAF-Kansas City, WSM/FM-Nashville, WGKX-Memphis, WAMZ-Louisville, WPOC-Baltimore, WQDR-Raleigh, WQYK-Tampa, WYAY-Atlanta and the syndicated radio show “After Midnight with Blair Garner.”
Tickets
Tickets for Fan Fair 2003 are on sale for a limited time at 2002
prices.
Fan Fair 2003 takes place Thursday through Sunday, June 5-8 in
Downtown Nashville and includes all the elements that have made
Fan Fair 2002 a rousing success including Nightly Concerts in the
Coliseum home of the Tennessee Titans, Daily Concerts at the Riverfront
Park Stages, the “Family Zone” and the popular exhibits and autograph
sessions at the Nashville Convention Center.
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