Village fair view from north end of the GreenThere are numerous types of festivals: religious, political, musical, artistic and civic.
In the early 1960s I loved reading the gothic novels written by Victoria Holt. One of the common threads in these novels was the yearly festival in the village. Everyone on the estates were all excited because they were going to take part in the festivities. The nanny or the governess, who were the heroine of the novels, were able to dress up and go into town to attend the festival. I thought this was so exciting.
I live in a small New England town that has an beautiful Green. As anyone knows about small New England towns they are very quaint and quiet. Back in the early 1960s you knew at 6pm they “rollup” the sidewalks. About 43 years ago our town held it first village fair. This fair was held for two days on the Green. There were tents and booths that featured the different business and civic organizations in our town. There were food and drink stands. There also were craft booths. At the early village fair they even had the water dunking booth. It was an invigorating and exciting time in town for two days and than at the end of Saturday night the sidewalks were again “rolled up” for another year.
The fair has grown over the years quite a bit. This year I was able to attend it with my two youngest grandsons and their mother. She had the thrill of watching her sons scamper all over the tank that sits at the south end of our Green. She reminisced how she had climbed all over the tank when she was a young child. Every year when I attend the village fair it reminds me about the festivals that were mentioned in the Victoria Holt novels.
16 comments:
Can I come be the village idiot?
Save some mead for me!
must be beautiful. I love fairs!
xoxo
Yes, here too. Ours is called Arts Jubilee. It lasts about six weeks.
the first i thought of with the theme were the marvelous festivals in the fantasy novels i grew up reading...go climb the tank, for old time sake...smiles.
Nice to discover all these festivals which must be going on all over the world. The common ingredient seems to be giving people pleasure.
Thanks for sharing this. Nice to think you can attend with your grandkids.
This sounds wonderful! I can see why you enjoy it! :)
DB, still quite a few up here in Mass. A couple of the churches ( in Oxford )still do their annual "spring festival". Too, there's the farmer's market on Saturdays( in the summer-time )...your green remind sme of the one in Brookfield...nice!
I love NE village greens. I miss them!
This reminds me of the summer fairs in upstate New York. I'm glad you got to attend with your daughter and grandchildren!
Ooo, Victoria Holt sounds like just my sort of thing. I'm going to check her out!
Actually our"Orange Blossom" Festival is coming up but frankly it's so very tacky. There used to be a parade but they didn't like horses and dogs pooing everwhere, let alone the pre-schoolers. Now it's just food and trash and the odd cold looking aboriginal playing a didgeridoo. Yours looks much more organised and inviting.
I miss going to the Village Fair. We have the State Fair of Texas here, but believe me when it is nothing like home.
we don't have many fairs or festivals in my area. sounds like i'm missing out
I've never heard of Victoria Holt but did enjoy reading about the overgrown festival as it is now. Ahh...a green in the middle of town--sounds like an English village too. Lovethose.
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