FREDERICKSBURG -- When the Meadow Event Park opens next September, it will bring thousands of people to Caroline County for the state fair.

And after the fair's 11-day run, officials say it will offer an ongoing venue for businesses and a source of revenue for the county.

At an April groundbreaking for the first phase of the project, officials stressed that the goal of opening next year was very tentative. But State Fair of Virginia President Curry Roberts confirmed last week that the 2009 fair will be held at the new park.

State Fair Marketing Director Jay Lugar said the site along Virginia 30 will offer more flexibility to host the fair and other year-round events because they own the property instead of renting it.

This year's state fair, the last at the Richmond Raceway Complex, is Sept. 25 to Oct. 5.

Roberts said the fair doesn't plan to advertise the new site right away, but it will start noting the Caroline location in its literature and on its Web site after this year's event.

Fair officials have been in talks with the Virginia Department of Transportation and Kings Dominion about potential signs, he said.

-- The (Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star