Thessaloniki International Fair turns…86!

“Alexandros S.A.” has been present at TIF for many years and will also be there this year. We are waiting for you all at Booth 8 to present our new creations in the sector of furniture and interior design.

Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) is an annual trade fair event of great importance for Greece and Southeast Europe, which takes place at the 180,000 sqm Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre in Thessaloniki.

The founding father of the organization was the Member of Parliament Nikolaos Germanos, who opened the doors of the first Exhibition in 1926, at the Pedion Areos (one of the largest public parks in Athens), in the Stratigio area. It took place within an area of 7,000 square meters, with 600 exhibitors and 100,000 visitors. At the FIX booth, beer cost 1 drachma per glass.

TIF-Helexpo moved to its current exhibition premises in 1937, as during World War II the destruction caused by the Germans when they left the city and the civil war that followed interrupted the operation of the Fair for 10 years, from 1941 to 1950.

The annual TIF events host national and global innovations, high-profile businesses, famous personalities and international artists. In the 1950s and 1960s, the number of Greek exhibitors participating in the events was 400, while foreign exhibitors averaged 1,500 per event. In 1967 the number of visitors reached a record 1.7 million.

In 1957, Dimitris Vakondios, an employee of the coffee company ‘Dritsas’, created the first frappe coffee. At some stage, he wanted to make his coffee, but he had run out of hot water and decided to use cold water. He poured two spoonfuls of Nescafé and cold water into a shaker and that’s how he made the first Nescafé Frappé.

In 1966, the Alexandreio Melathron – the stadium also known as Palais des Sports – was constructed within the premises of the Exhibition. The Greek Film Festival (1960) and the Greek Song Festival (1962) were established, and the Exhibition became the country’s most social and artistic event. Extraordinary and impressive spectacles, such as the “Motorcycle of Death”, the “Flaming Hot-Balloon”, the “Cannon Man”, the “Flying Dutchman”, the “White Demons” (acrobats on bicycles), and “Goliath” (a whale 22 meters long and weighing 69 tons), leave the audience impressed.

In 1954, the first closed-circuit television was presented at the American pavilion, which leaves visitors speechless as they see themselves on-screen for the first time. Also, in 1970, the lunar rock collected by Apollo 11 was on display.

In 1998, at the 63rd TIF, the institution of the honoured country was introduced and the People’s Republic of China was honoured.