A street

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

celebrates the character of a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

. As its name suggests, it is typically held on the main street of a neighborhood. The principal component of street fairs are booths used to sell goods (particularly food) or convey information. Some include carnival rides and parades. Many have live music and dance demonstrations. Fairs typically range no more than a few blocks long, although some fairs, such as the 9th Avenue International Food Festival in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and the Solano Stroll in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

, extend more than a mile. A fair only one block long is commonly called a block party.

Variety

Street fairs vary greatly in character, even within one city. Annual street fairs in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

, Washington, for example, include the University District Street Fair that feature the work of

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

speople and require that the person who make the goods that are for sale must be present in their own booths. The Fremont Fair features crafts from around the world, as well as the

Summer Solstice Parade and Pageant The Fremont Solstice Parade is an annual event that occurs each June in Seattle, Washington. The Parade was founded by Barbara Luecke and Peter Toms in 1989. Luecke and Toms were inspired by the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Parade and Ce ...

, famed for its painted naked cyclists. In the same city, the

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

Block Party fences off several blocks, charges admission, and features some of the city's best known rock bands, while the Chinatown-International District Summer Fair has a distinctly

Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peopl ...

and

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

flavor, with

taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming ...

drummers,

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preser ...

demonstrations and Hawaiian dance. In

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, street fairs are known as braderies, which translates to roasting, referencing the frequent roasting of meat at the events.

List of street fairs

* Atlantic Antic * Braderie de Lille *

Boishakhi Mela The Boishakhi Mela ( bn, বৈশাখী মেলা, Boishakhi Mela, Fair of Boishakh) is a Bengali celebration ( mela) which takes place outside of Bangladesh. It is celebrated by the Bangladeshi diaspora in the United Kingdom, United ...

* Castro Street Fair * Chorley cake Street Fair * Dekalb County Free Fall Fair * Ephrata Fair * Feast of San Gennaro *

Festa do Albariño The Festa do Albariño is a gastronomical feast in Cambados, Galicia, Spain celebrated during the week leading to the first Sunday of August. It is the oldest wine feast of Galicia and the second of Spain. The origin of this feast was a chall ...

Folsom Europe Folsom Europe, also known as Folsom Straßenfest (English: Folsom Street Fest), is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair held in September in Berlin, Germany since 2003. History Folsom Europe was established in 2003, in order to br ...

* Folsom Street Fair *

Gentse Feesten The Gentse Feesten (; In Ghent dialect Gense Fieste "The Ghent Festival") is a music and theatre festival in the city of Ghent, Belgium. Besides stage events there are street acts such as mimes and buskers. The festival starts on the Friday befo ...

* Giglio Society of East Harlem *

How Weird Street Faire The How Weird Street Faire is an outdoor street fair held each year in San Francisco, occupying several blocks of Howard Street and the surrounding area, in the SoMa neighborhood. The event has been held yearly since 2000, and is currently centere ...

* Kentucky Avenue Renaissance Festival *

Lesbian and Gay City Festival The Lesbian and Gay City Festival (''Lesbisch-Schwules Stadtfest'') in Berlin is Europe's largest street festival for lesbians and gays. It has been held in the traditional gay area around Nollendorfplatz in Schöneberg since 1993. In Berlin ...

Lilac Festival (Calgary) Lilac festival is an annual street festival held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The festival has grown to entertain over 80,000 people each spring. The lilac (''Syringa'') flowers are often blooming throughout the area at this time. The festival t ...

Northalsted Market Days Northalsted Market Days is an annual two-day festival in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Established in 1982, it's the Midwest's largest street festival with annual attendance exceeding 300,000 people over the two-day event. It takes place in the ...

Solano Avenue Stroll The Solano Avenue Stroll, also known as the Solano Stroll, is an annual street fair held on the second Sunday of September on the Solano Avenue shopping district of Albany and Berkeley, California. Stretching close to 2 miles long and bringing be ...

St Crispin Street Fair The St Crispin Street Fair is a fair held periodically in the Market Square of Northampton, England. It is organised by Northampton Borough Council. The event is a travelling funfair with over 100 amusement rides, usually operating on several da ...

St Giles' Fair St Giles' Fair (also St Giles Fair) is an annual fair held in St Giles', a wide thoroughfare in central north Oxford, England. The origins of the fair can be traced back to medieval times where it became one of England's dynamic trading cente ...

Sunset Junction Street Fair The Sunset Junction Street Fair was an event held annually in the Sunset Junction neighborhood of the Silver Lake community in Los Angeles, California. Occurring annually in late August, the two-day neighborhood festival was first held in 1980, as ...

* Taste of Arlington *

Up Your Alley Fair The Up Your Alley Fair, most commonly referred to by locals as Dore Alley Fair or simply Dore Alley is a leather and fetish event held in San Francisco, California on the last Sunday of July on Folsom Street between 9th and 10th Streets and on D ...

* Ohio Festival and Events Association lists Ohio fairs

Gallery

Image:Ballard Fest 2006 5.jpg, A street fair in the historically seafaring neighborhood of

Ballard, Seattle, Washington Ballard is a neighborhood in the northwestern area of Seattle, Washington, United States. Formerly an independent city, the City of Seattle's official boundaries define it as bounded to the north by Crown Hill (N.W. 85th Street), to the east by ...

Image:Feira.jpg, Produce at a street fair at

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

File:Quetschenfest.JPG, A view of the Quetschenfest street fair in the community of Geichlingen, Germany File:Mondorf Luxembourg Braderie 20090830.jpg, A braderie in

Mondorf-les-Bains Mondorf-les-Bains ( ; ) is a commune and town in south-eastern Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Remich. Mondorf-les-Bains is a spa town (hence its name), and has the only casino in Luxembourg. , the commune of Mondorf-les-Bains (other to ...

, Luxembourg, 2009

References

{{reflist Fairs Street culture

Variety

List of street fairs

Gallery

See also

References