BATON ROUGE — The Greater Baton Rouge State Fair will likely hold its last fair along Airline Highway this year, with plans for a St. George sports complex forcing the fair to find a new home after it's been held at the Airline fairgrounds since 1973.

Fair President Cliff Barton said that, because BREC has been seeking to turn over operations of its parks to the cities where they lie, St. George has decided it wants to build a sports complex on the fairgrounds, which would not leave room for the fair to be hosted each year.

"We've been told this is our last year [at the fairgrounds]," Barton said.

This decision, he said, would force the Greater Baton Rouge State Fair to relocate to another site within the parish. 

At a BREC Planning and Park Resources Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday, Barton said that he, Baker Mayor Darnell Waites and other local officials have explored the idea of relocating the fair to the old Woody Dumas golf course in Baker near Lacey Lane. 

Moving the fair to this new location, Barton said, would take a lot of work to convert the barren land into a site with electricity and the other necessities to put on the 11-day event. 

"We're not sure we have time to put it together for next year," he told WBRZ. 

Barton said that the proposed move is "not even in baby steps" of coming to fruition. 

"We're not even crawling yet," he added.

At the BREC meeting, Metro Councilman Anthony Kenney, who represents Baker, spoke in favor of the move.

This year's fair runs from Oct. 22 through Nov. 1.