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Whitsun Fayre all set for Bank Holiday weekend...

The organisers of the Our Bury St Edmunds Whitsun Fayre have welcomed the Government’s announcement that the further lifting of Coronavirus restrictions will be going ahead from Monday – in time for the return of the event at the end of this month.

It means that more hospitality establishments will be able to open and serve visitors coming into town for the free to enter two day Fayre, which this year, for safety reasons, will be a market-style event similar to its early days when it was known as the Flower and Continental Market.

The annual Fayre, which traditionally focusses on gardening, plants and flowers, will also offer hand-made crafts and ‘farmers market’-style stalls. Some town centre businesses will also be participating with their own stalls complementing their shops. Last year’s Whitsun Fayre was cancelled due to the pandemic and Our Bury St Edmunds has decided not to include some of the usual elements on this occasion to ensure it is as Covid-safe as possible.

Our Bury St Edmunds Chief Executive Mark Cordell said: “We are delighted that the Government has given the go-ahead for hospitality businesses to re-open and allow customers to be served indoors as this will enable people to make more of their visit to the Whitsun Fayre by combining it with lunch at a favourite café, pub or restaurant.

“For the event itself we have reviewed all the Covid safety aspects and followed West Suffolk Council’s model for their very successful twice-weekly market for the Whitsun Fayre. It’s disappointing of course that we won’t be able to offer some of the other attractions such as the mini-farm and the urban beach that have been part of the Fayre in recent years but we hope to bring these back to the town centre in the future. I know that people visiting would rather be reassured about the safety of the day out above everything else, hence we have taken a phased approach to bringing our attractions back.”

The Our Bury St Edmunds Whitsun Fayre is a free-admission two-day event which takes place on Sunday 30 and Monday 31 May between 10am and 4pm.