The Abingdon Michaelmas Fair has returned for Monday and Tuesday of this week.

On Sunday the fair paraphernalia was being set up on the Market Place, High Street, Stratton Way,

and Ock Street.

Setting up the fair involves a lot of hard work. Bob Wilson’s Fun Fairs co-ordinate the show people, and work with Abingdon Town Council, and other authorities.

Abingdon County Hall Museum has an exhibition about the fair with pictures and historical details and a distortion mirror. The exhibition runs from 5th October until 22nd December

Going to watch the fair being set up is a tradition.

Another tradition is the Sunday Evening Fair Service at the Galloping Horses. This year it began with a welcome by the Mayor, and was led by Revd Steve Millard from Abingdon Baptist Church.

There followed a ride for anybody who wished.

One week on from the main Michaelmas Fair and the Runaway Fair arrived on the Market Place yesterday (Sunday) in the rain.

The fair was underway throughout today (Monday), and the weather was better with just fine rain as evening arrived.

Traffic is diverted round by East St Helen Street and West St Helen Street during the Runaway Fair. It always feels strange sitting in our first floor lounge and seeing people sailing by, or halting, outside of our window – on the top deck of Oxford double decker buses.

I have not managed to get a good photo of the bus sailing by yet.

Talking of good photos, the Friends of Abingdon have a Abingdon Fair Photo Competition. Entries need to be in by midnight on Saturday 20 October.

By 11.30 pm on Tuesday the dismantling of the fair was well underway. I decided that I would not walk across the Market Place at it was so full of activity, with rides being put away quicker than they were put up.

Great care was taken with the big expensive rides. They were collapsed and folded into shapes that fitted into a lorry. A man put on a harness and went on a lift to the top of the high swing roundabout to collapse the large tower from the top down.

Taking longer than most was the stall that sold only doughnuts. It took time to serve the queue, and afterwards the man was cleaning all his equipment with care.

Today was very warm and sunny for October. On the Market Place the fair was gone, replaced by the van from Smokefreelife Oxfordshire. They provide a 12 week treatment plan, combining behavioural support with nicotine replacement therapy, free of charge if you live in Oxfordshire.

There were more locals  than ever outside their businesses during the fair. Delicious Abi, who have re-opened in the last week, were giving out samples.

The balloons with the fairy lights looked really good but did cost £8.

Lots of stalls were serving doughnuts but a lot of people went to the stall that only did doughnuts. There was quite a queue and you could see them being made as you waited.

I didn’t see anybody manage to hang onto the ‘Beat the Bar’ for the 2 minutes to win the old style fair challenge. Very entertaining to watch when the crowd got behind the competitor.

At the Ock Street end of the fair the Mission Space ride stood out again. It is a high swing chair roundabout with colourful lighting.

At the High Street end was the helter skelter.

Here is a five minute video showing how long you get on the Bodycount and Meterorite rides …

It is goodbye from the big fair for another year.

The duck, crocodile and giraffe could be there again next week.

The runaway fair will be back next Monday with mainly children’s rides.