Scotland’s oldest medieval street fair is scheduled to go ahead in St Andrews between August 13 and 17, Fife Council have confirmed, after fears Covid-19 would force its cancellation for a second year.
The announcement from the Scottish Government on Tuesday August 3 that the majority of Covid-19 restrictions will be lifted on August 9 means that the Lammas Market, which includes a funfair and street traders, will run in Market Street and South Street a week later than originally planned.
There will be no restrictions on numbers of people attending, the council said, although discussions on a number of measures are continuing.
Management plan
Speculation has been mounting locally for weeks as to whether the annual Lammas fair would take place.
While Europe’s longest street fair – the Links Market in Kirkcaldy – was cancelled for the second year in April, improving conditions meant the Burntisland Fair, which was originally cancelled earlier this year, was allowed to go ahead for six weeks from July 6 at Burntisland Links with a strict Covid-19 management plan in place.
Fife Council’s emergency resilience manager Shona Robertson, who chaired the multi-agency meetings with the Scottish Showmen’s Guild in the run up to this year’s Burntisland Fair, told The Courier similar discussions were now under way regarding the Lammas.
“This has been a real team effort,” she said.
“Over the last few months, we worked really closely with the Showmen’s Guild, who organise and run the fair, to make sure this year’s event was as safe as possible for everyone coming along.
“Working to public health legislation and guidance, together we made sure the organisers fully considered and planned for a safe event.
“Measures including physical distancing, capacity limits and hygiene stations were in place as well as all the normal fairground health and safety measures.
“We are now in similar discussions with the organisers of the Lammas Fair which is due to go ahead this year between August 13 – 17.
“The announcement from the Scottish Government yesterday means there will be no restrictions on numbers attending.
“Hopefully the sunshine will make an appearance and help make the fair a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone.”
Showmen’s Guild
Scottish Showmen’s Guild committee member Alan Newsome told The Courier it had been a “big thing” to get Burntisland up and running again this year with a Covid-19 plan in place.
He said the Showmen’s Guild chairman and committee had been “outstanding” – proving that they could run a fair safely and manageable within the then guidelines.
With a public thoroughfare running down the middle of the Burntisland site that had to be kept open, the guild came up with an event plan there which included a traffic plan and around 20 stewards managing different controlled funfair zones.
Planning for the Lammas Market in St Andrews posed different challenges, however.
While Burntisland fair is effectively a fenced off area, the Lammas was situated on main streets in the middle of the town where restrictions would be much more difficult to enforce. It’s been suggested this could mean the fair is smaller than normal.
Several pavement areas in St Andrews town centre had also been given over to pubs allowing them to operate socially distanced areas during lockdown.
While the Lammas is traditionally held in the days leading up to the second Tuesday in August, the decision had been taken this year to await the Scottish Government’s anticipated “make or break” relaxation of Covid-19 rules on August 9 and to delay the fair by a week to August 13-17.
Discussions were ongoing behind the scenes with Fife Council and other agencies to address any issues and make the event as safe as possible.
Fairground attraction – behind the scenes with Scotland’s funfairs
