1959
In 1959, a National Agricultural Meeting was held at the Rosenlundsfältet (outdoor) and Rosenlundshallen (indoor) areas in Jönköping, organised by Sweden’s Rural Economy and Agricultural Societies. The project manager for the fair was Eric Hållander from Axvall in Västergötland province. He had organised the European Agricultural Show Axvalla (Europeiska Lantbruksmässan Axvalla, ELMA) a year previously.
Ahead of the National Agricultural Meeting in 1959, Jönköping local authority made major investments in Rosenlundsfältet and Rosenlundshallen and was already intent on continuing to organise fairs and exhibitions.
In 1961 ELMA picked up an extra ‘I’, because the chairman of the board of trustees, county governor Allan Nordenstam, refused to ‘inaugurate his wife once a year’ – her name happened to be Elma. The ‘I’ came to stand for Industry.

The 1960s
In the mid-1960s the local authority took over ELMIA, with the visionary Ingeman Stenqvist as Managing Director.

The 1970s
In 1970 forestry-related activities were ‘discontinued’ as part of the original ELMIA fair, and resurrected in 1971 as their own trade show, Elmia Wood.

1970 is also when the first environmental fair was held: Världen, Vattnet och Vi (The World, Water and Us). Elmia was therefore the first company in the Nordic region, perhaps even in Europe, to organise a major environmental fair.

In 1975 Elmia Subcontractor was held for the first time.

Today
Today Elmia arranges around 25 of its own fairs every year in a variety of business areas. Elmia also tailors a large number of customised events and is responsible for rentals and services.
Our own trade shows include Elmia Wood, the world’s largest forestry fair.
Elmia Subcontractor, the Elmia Lastbil truck show, the Elmia Husvagn Husbil caravan show and Elmia Nordic Rail are also among the biggest events of their kind in Europe.