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History

In 1969, Emile Coulaudon (alias Colonel Gaspard, Head of the Auvergne Maquis during World War 2) successfully organised a trade show in the Cournon industrial zone, and asked Marc Andrieux to create a fair by setting up an association. The fair was called Expo 71.

In 1978, the Mayor of Cournon, Joseph Gardet, invited Expo 71 to move to the Cournon lake and asked Roger Quilliot, Senator and Mayor of Clermont-Ferrand, to associate Clermont-Ferrand with the organisation. This suggestion was accepted immediately and Marc Andrieux was elected president.

In 1981, the Clermont-Ferrand - Cournon fair was added to the national calendar of French trade fairs and classified as a National Fair.

In 1982, a new association was set up to replace Expo 71, the "Foire-Exposition de Clermont-Ferrand - Cournon" (the Clermont-Ferrand - Cournon Trade Fair).

In 1990, the fair was redesigned. It acquired high quality temporary structures. The space was organised to highlight each individual sector.

Between 1990 and 1992, the breadth of trade and tourism in Auvergne was highlighted. The Marketing Fair was added to the show.

In June 1993, Alain Madelin, Minister for Business and Economic Development, awarded Jean-Pierre Barreyre, President of the Organising Committee, the trophy for Fair of the Year 1992 (awarded jointly by the French Trade Fair and Salon Federation), awarded to the best trade fair in France.

In 1998, the fair’s key theme was leisure and nature. 135,000 visitors came to this event, with exhibitors from nationwide. This particular event opened the way to changes at subsequent fairs. Visitors became a more and more integral part of the fair with different activities.

The 1999 fair gave more space to local businesses and prefigured the green theme announced for the fair. 152,000 visitors came to the 130,000 m2 of this major event.

In 2000, Axel Kahn, a world-renowned biologist, inaugurated the fair. The theme that year was "New Technologies". This year was marked by an explosion in the number of younger visitors, particularly young couples with children. In all, 148,000 visitors attended the 23rd Fair.

"Quebec" was the theme for the 2001 fair, which took place from 8 to 17 September 2001. In the heart of the main hall, in a cool, colourful setting, visitors were invited to discover all the riches of that province - crafts, tourism, gastronomy, folklore...

The 25th fair, between 7 and 16 September 2002, went in search of the treasure of the Pharaohs! Under a 1,000 m2 big top, the visitor was able to see more than three hundred exact replicas of originals held in Cairo museum, including a hundred major pieces of Tutankhamen’s treasure.

In 2003, Mongolia - land of nomads. Deserts in the south, the taiga, mountains in the north: the Mongol landscapes give an impression of power and of solitude. The nomads who live there have a way of life which has not changed for centuries. In a 1,000 m2 recreation of a Mongol setting, the Mongolian theme, magically and poetically, showed the public’s interest in discovered far away countries and other cultures.

2004: In this year, the Fair took place at the Parc des Expositions de la Grande Halle d’Auvergne for the first time,
with 100,000 m2 offering: habitat, furnishings, crafts, automobile, new technologies, leisure, sport, gastronomy.