Photos of Europe's largest gathering of Romani and Traveler people as thousand enjoy the traditional horse-trading fair in a rural English town
OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
- The small market town of Appleby-in-Westmoreland is welcoming thousands of travelers to the Appleby Fair.
- The fair is a horse-trading event dating back to 1775.
- The festival, a four-day celebration of Romani culture, is described as a "big family get-together," by organizers.
Appleby-in-Westmoreland, northwest England, is famous for hosting the Appleby Horse Fair, an annual event that attracts thousands of people from the gypsy, Roma, and Traveler communities to come and buy and sell horses.
The event's website describes it as an "annual gathering of Gypsies and Travellers" and has been running since 1775, according to Visit Cumbria.
The Fair is billed as the biggest traditional Gypsy fair in Europe, with more than 10,000 people arriving in in an estimated 1,000 mobile homes and caravans.
The Traveller and Romani people, traditionally called the Gypsy community (although largely considered a negative term), is a cultural term for the Roma diaspora.
Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images
The Appleby Fair website explains that the four-day-long event does not have a "set program" but is a "traditional Gypsy Fair, more like a big family get-together."
As seen in many photos, the horses are washed (and sometimes their owners take the plunge with them!) and then paraded around the rural town.
Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images
According to the fair organizers, the event attracts up to 40,000 visitors from across Europe. It includes 10,000 Traveler and Romani people in an estimated 1,000 mobile homes and caravans, hundreds of horse-drawn vehicles, and 30,000 visitors from outside the community.
It completely transforms the quiet town of Appleby, which has a population of just 2,500.
OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Image
The Appleby Horse Fair was canceled in 2020 and postponed in 2021 due to the pandemic.
While the fair traditionally happens over the first weekend in June, it had to be moved this year to accommodate the Queens Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend celebrations.
As a result, this is the third year when tradition has had to be reconfigured.
The website states that an agreement has been made for 2023 when the fair will be hosted on the traditional dates.
Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images
Local news source Lancashire Live has reported that multiple arrests have been made in the packed-out fair.
Police said they had been for drink and drug driving to minor crimes but nothing of note.
It reports that Chief Superintendent Matt Kennerley, Gold Commander for Appleby Horse Fair, said: "It has been really busy over the last few days in terms of numbers in Cumbria with horses and vehicles but there are not many licensed sites where they can go which poses problems.
"We do all we can to keep those encampments safe. but even then we have seen a couple of road traffic collisions that involved the death of a couple of horses."
Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images
The washing of horses has proven to be a popular sight at the fair, with crowds gathering to see the animals take a splash in the River Eden.
OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
The RSPCA, a national animal welfare charity, has said that it will be attending the fair to be available to offer "welfare advice and support for the hundreds of horses brought to the fair."
The charity says it will be joined by several equine organizations, as well as vets.
RSPCA Chief Inspector Rob Melloy said, "The fair can be very physically demanding on the horses, and they can tire very quickly after even just the first day, so it's essential they are given enough rest and water."
OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
The Appleby Fair is also an opportunity to see historic bow-top wagons, also known as Vardos, a traditional Romani home that is horse-drawn and typically intricately decorated.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/Gm8Hclb
No comments