ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR IN YORK
The first York Spring Fair & Food Festival took place over the May Spring bank holiday weekend and throughout the half term holiday for schools on the city’s Knavesmire. This is the location for the regular horse-racing meets that are held throughout the year. The fair certainly brought out the crowds, with the event enjoying good weather throughout the week.
The festival was created by Johnny Cooper, chief executive officer of Coopers Marquees, and James Cundall, CEO of Jamboree Entertainment, and was the first major event to be held in the city after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. It certainly was a Covid-compliant event with the then current Government guidance on Covid-19 being followed including signage, and hand sanitisers being present throughout the site.
But it wasn’t the food and drink stalls that provided the highlight of the visit for many, the event boasted one of the largest vintage funfairs that had been seen in the north of England for many years, and what a selection of rides and attractions there were.
Welcoming visitors to the fair was the Turner Brothers’ 1898 Gavioli organ which was standing alongside their 1911 Burrell showman’s conversion No. 3313 . This engine has certainly had an interesting history, being built as a general purpose engine by Burrells of Thetford, but the story goes that the nearby firm of Doran Brothers needed a
