Another great Fair

This year the Martinborough Fair celebrated its 44^th consecutive year! The Fair has evolved from a modest 35 stalls and produce trucks to over 500 stalls from around New Zealand selling a wide range of quality items and attended by over 40,000 people over the two days. Food was popular in the early fairs, and is still so today with a lot of food trucks selling ethnic and traditional food. 

Local produce is particularly showcased at the Fair including olive oil, honey, salami, cheeses, bread, fruit preserves and juices, fresh produce and fudge. The Fair’s reputation is such that the demand for stalls exceeds the space available with waiting lists now commonplace. We have also increased our efforts to publicise the fair in advance on the Web and on social media where it has its own website and Facebook page.

With Martinborough now a plastic bag free town, Rotary promoted this initiative to our Stall holders and the general public, and also trialled new recycling stations for aluminium cans, plastics and glass. Stall holders helped out by taking their own rubbish home – helping to reduce the overall waste left behind after the Fair. 

Other new facilities that were introduced in 2020 included more port-a-loos, a drinking water truck in February, new streets included in the traffic management plans, extra power sockets for stall sites, more disabled parking and a Parents Room at the Waihinga Centre where small children could have a quiet time away from the excitement of the Fair.

All of this could not happen with support from other groups such as the Lions and Inner Wheel so thanks to them for their ongoing support. The end result is that the Martinborough Fair Charity Trust can make significant donations back to the community consistent with the four avenues of service endorsed by Rotary, namely Community Service, Youth and Vocational, Environment and International.  About 80% of the profits are returned to the community to support local organisations, projects and individuals and the remainder is spent overseas in the South Pacific region.

You can find out more about the Fair at https://martinboroughfair.org.nz/fair-information.