This pretty market town has one of the widest high streets in the country, which is just as well....
Every summer the town holds a jazz festival with local pubs, clubs, hotels and various other venues playing host to live jazz music over the course of a weekend. Being a market town, of course there is a weekly market, and a Farmer's market every other Saturday.
Every
October the high street is closed for the two Saturdays either side of
11 October for the Marlborough Mop Fair. Which makes today 'Mop-Setting-Up Day'!
It was originally a hiring fair for workers seeking employment. Farm workers, labourers, and servants would work for their employer from October to October. At the end of the employment they would attend the fair dressed in their Sunday best clothes and carrying an item signifying their trade. A servant with no particular skills would carry a mop head. Because so many people gathered at a fair, it quickly turned into the major place for matching workers and employers.
It was originally a hiring fair for workers seeking employment. Farm workers, labourers, and servants would work for their employer from October to October. At the end of the employment they would attend the fair dressed in their Sunday best clothes and carrying an item signifying their trade. A servant with no particular skills would carry a mop head. Because so many people gathered at a fair, it quickly turned into the major place for matching workers and employers.
The right of the town to close the road to hold the fair is set down in the 1204 Charter. So it's been running for over 800 years. And it's changed a bit over the centuries.....
The High Street gets cordoned off at Friday lunchtime and the fair rolls into town ready to be set up for the weekend's festivities. Back in Victorian times mops became giant fun fairs, originally driven by steam. Today huge generators create the electricity for the rides and the amplifiers that blast music the length of the High Street. It's definitely one for the kids!!
As we speak, the lorries are arriving with their trailers stacked high with the waltzers, dodgems, and big wheel, ready to assemble like a giant Meccano kit, or unfold like Optimus Prime.
It doesn't take long for the teams to get the rides up and running; the site manager must be a puzzle genius to make it all fit but it works, and it looks fantastic from the top of the big wheel!
Have a great weekend. We're off to get some candy floss!
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