For the first time in 51 years, there will be no Maritime Fall Fair in 2015, due to the closure of Halifax’s Exhibition Park.

CTV News on Wednesday learned of the province’s decision to close the facility in November, after a maintenance overview found the building needed millions in upgrades and urgent repairs.

Organizer Brian Casey says the decision not to hold the Maritime Fall Fair all came down to time.

“I hope they realize the five or six of us sitting around the table didn't take this lightly,” he said.

After learning last month Exhibition Park wouldn’t be available for the fair, a committee was formed to consider the options, Casey said.

At first, holding the event in Windsor was a possibility, but with only two months left to plan, he said organizers felt the event wouldn’t be a success.

“We have assurances from the government that they will help the steering committee bring it back in 2016, hopefully a lot bigger and better and back to what it should be: more concentration on agriculture,” Casey said.

Beginning in 1963 as the Atlantic Winter Fair, the event was held in different parts in the province, including in Windsor, before making its home at Exhibition Park in the 1980s.

Casey said he hopes, once the event returns, it will be back in the city.

“Take the country to the city, because everybody's becoming more and more removed from agriculture all the time,” he said.

Exhibition Park needs about $9 million in repairs.

The province is shutting it down on November 16.

The deed, currently held by Trade Centre Limited, will transfer to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal. The department is planning to talk to those interested in the future of the 30-year-old facility before making a final decision.

Halifax Mayor Mike Savage says he has heard from several people interested in the building’s future.

“We'd certainly be interested in what happens there. I think it's unlikely that we’d want to take it over,” Savage said.

“I've heard from private sector and public sector and I've certainly heard from users of the facility who are saying we would really like to try to keep that because we don't have a similar facility,” he said.

Elizabeth Newman, vice-president of sales and marketing for RCR Hospitality Group, says she’s been taking calls from those who have had events at Exhibition Park in the past and are now looking for space.

She says the group’s Cunard Centre has proven it can hold tradeshows and moving more events downtown would be good for the city.

“We need to all work together, the partners in the hospitality industry to ensure that we keep those shows here in Halifax,” Newman said.

She says she’s already had a few bookings from past Exhibition Park clients.

“We're looking at the list of events that had been there. We're going to reach out to those folks and show them an alternate of coming to the Cunard Centre,” she said.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jacqueline Foster