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'Beloved' fair cancelled in 2025 due to costs

Kim Fyson/Geograph A man with his back to the camera and his arms raised creating a giant soap bubble. He is standing on shaggy grass and is watched by a few people. There are stands and marquees on the right and more marquees, surrounded by people in the distance.Kim Fyson/Geograph
The Strawberry Fair held performances by more than 140 groups

A 50-year-old annual arts and music fair has been cancelled next year after costs have doubled in the last decade.

Strawberry Fair started in 1974 on Midsummer Common, Cambridge, as a "free alternative" to Cambridge University colleges' May Balls.

Volunteers have said they were not confident of raising the funds needed to put it on in 2025, but would work to ensure the "absolutely beloved" fair returns in 2026.

Mark McGivern, the chair of programming, said: "Ten years ago, the fair cost £100,000, now it's going to cost at least £200,000."

Mr Ignavy/Geograph Crowds of men, women and children, walking on shaggy grass on a summer's day. Behind them are two stalls and in front are the heads of four people sitting on the grass, Strawberry Fair, Midsummer Common, 2011Mr Ignavy/Geograph
The cost of running the fair has more than doubled in a decade

The event, which is held on the first Saturday of June, attracts more than 30,000 visitors.

Organisers described it as "the UK's longest running and largest one-day arts and music event", which was run solely by volunteers.

Organisers said half of the £100,000 increase had happened since 2021.

Mr McGivern said: "After coming out of this year's fair, which we just about managed to make happen, it was quite clear the cost of the fair in 2025 was going to be at least £200,000 and we couldn't see that we'd be able to raise more than £170,000 to fund it.

"Fuel is a huge [cost], everything is run on generators and the cost of generators and the cost of fuel has gone up dramatically."

He added while the fair was organised and run by volunteers, the costs to employ extra workers, including security, sound engineers and medical staff, had "gone up dramatically".

The fair has been largely self-funded through pitch fees paid by the bars and traders who attended, supplemented by fundraising throughout the year and donations from the public.

Organisers said charging was never an option.

"With all the other changes that happened across the country in the last 50 years, we really want to keep that part of that original vision alive," Mr McGivern said.

He added the committee would "love to hear from" people who might have other ideas and ways of raising the additional funds.

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