When: 14th September 2013 from 10am
Where: Newent, Gloucestershire
£: Free
What is it?
The annual Newent Onion Fayre takes place on 14th September with the famous Onion Show, Food Festival and Onion Eating Competition. There will be food and drink stands, live music and children’s events at the fayre.
The Onion Fayre has been going since the 13th century when Newent became a thriving market town. Welsh drovers, who were passing through to Gloucester, would purchase local onions at the town’s newly established fayre. The Onion Fayre survived until the two world wars in the 20th century helped see its demise. The fayre was revived in 1996 and has been going strong ever since.
The Onion Show, staged in the town’s Memorial Hall, is unique in the UK and is open to the public on the day of the fayre from 10.30am.
To celebrate the fayre, Newent closes the roads to traffic and fills the streets with fun fair rides, stalls, live music and street entertainment instead. Newent Onion Fayre’s Food Festival is a new addition to the day’s festivities and offers a wide range of food and drink stalls.
At 1pm, the quirky highlight of the fayre, will see a crowd gather at the main stage for ever popular Onion Eating Competition. Challengers come from far and wide to attempt this eye-watering feat. To win the competition, contestants must eat a raw peeled onion in the quickest time. Not a challenge that everyone has the stomach for!
More info: www.newentonionfayre.org