Nottingham's popular Goose Fair cancelled
Nottingham City Council and the Showmen’s Guild have announced the cancellation of the 729th Goose Fair.
The popular annual event was due to start from Wednesday 30th September to Sunday 4th October at the Forest Recreation Ground. Despite current Government regulations allowing fairground rides and attractions to open, the council said they would have struggled to manage the 420,000 visitors who attend the five-day event, while maintaining social distancing and ensuring that other Covid-safe measures are in place.
Organisers told us that they considered several options, including creating a number of timed sessions to limit capacity to 25,000 people, or extending the length of the fair to ten days.
However, neither of these options came close to providing capacity for the more than 400,000 visitors who would normally attend.
The council also said that being unable to get people to and from the site on public transport was also a major factor in reaching the decision.
William Percival, Chair of the Showmen’s Guild said: “We are obviously disappointed that the 729th Goose Fair can’t proceed as planned this year."“As with other sections of the entertainment industry, fairground operators have been hit hard by the pandemic, with many not operating at all during this year."
People we spoke to in Nottingham city centre said the annual event would be missed.
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