help required

I need to think of 20 things you'd find at a village fete.

Even if you can only think of one, post it as a comment.

I promise I'll do you a favour in return. Whatever it takes.

pic from Brampton Parish Council

Comments

[Will]

Tombola stands, bunting (those strange flags up at every fete), sponge cake, marrows, jams, vicars.

Just off the top of my head. Hope that helps.

[Colman]

Splat the rat.

[lauren]

fairy floss and pleasant smiles

[Colman]

Wiggly wire - I was very good at this, back in the day. Katrina Nabarvi's dad used to run the stall, Mr. Nabarvi, we used to call him.

[Elle]

that game with the rubber ducks in a paddling pool, with hooks on their backs, and you have to kind of 'fish' for them.

[davidthedesigner]

A smash-the-crockery stall, mini steam train rides, nine-pin bowling - ie skittles - (with a piglet as first prise), a 'white elephant' stall, scones, cream and strawberry jam. And Panama hats are compulsory.

[Anne]

Coconut shy. My son won a coconut at a fete last year. It was a proud moment. Second hand books are always a bonus. Must be sold from an old suitcase.

[Rob & Robbie]

At the incredible village fete in Langtoft, we always had 'Beat the goalie', an East vs West tug o' war between both ends of the village, and some guy's Dad always brought down a kestrel and a couple of other birds of prey - then he'd swing a bit of meat around on a big long string for them to 'kill'! The ladies of the village had a best cake competition too. Oh, and there was always that game where you had to guess how many sweeties were in the really big jar...

[Anne]

Just thought of some more - dodgy hamburgers, some kind of local dancing (Morris/Scottish depending where you are). Also, crap athletics - egg and spoon, two-legged race, or mini-Highland games.

[Helen]

Dodgy PA system
Face painting/kids in fancy dress - possibly even a parade
Cake stall
Bouncy castle
Guess the weight of something
Coconut shy
Donkey rides
Dads v lads football game - always the highlight of the weekend
Morris dancing (shudder, I refused to leave the house the year my mum participated in this)

[Angus Whines]

Dammit, someone can up with my count the lollies in the jar.

I remember seeing a 'guess the weight of the piglet and you win it' at a few. Or maybe that was just in american movies.

A tiny little train that you put your kid on.

Balloons.

THICK marmelade - yum.

A real hot dog stand with onions.

A wheelbarrow. No idea why.

[David Airey :: Creative Design ::]

Inflatable sumo wrestling or bouncy castle boxing.

[dan burgess]

tombola with very rare prizes
morris dancing (brilliant when everyone gets involved)
cake competition
vicar/headmistress on a megaphone giving timetable updates
apple dunking
vegetable growing competition
throwing wet sponges at your dad or something like that
bales of hay
minor, slightly leftfield celeb to open the event and do photos & autographs (i remember the guy who operated R2D2 at one when i was a kid)

[adam]

There's something hazy in my memory around madeira cake. I remember eating home cooked cakes at fetes.

Donkey rides? I'm sure I remember them featuring.

More recently, there have been car boot sale sections. Lots of leather jackets for Ed Grace to buy.

[Manjit]

That game where you bash a base with a rubber mallet and a marker shoots up a pole. If you hit it hard enough, it shoots to the top and sounds a bell. Lord only knows what it is called !

[Claire]

hog roast
beer tent (for the dads & grandads)
tug o war
hoopla
lucky dip
donkey rides
morris dancers

[doug]

apologies if this is repeating any of the above, have tried not to...

- bunting. got to have bunting
- local food stall
- beat the keeper with dodgy local celeb
- cider/ale stall
- decent BBQ with proper food (none of this frozen burger malarkey)
- guess the weight of the massive marrow/pumpkin etc etc

[Harry C]

Dan, you seem to have a very comprehensive list - but from my days on the local PTA committee I remember we always had :
- an Ice Cream stand
- Music (over a PA system)
and the local Hedgerley Village Fete always have a live swing band.

[dboy]

Nettles... I always used to get stung by nettles at fetes. Facepaint. The Mayor. A stall run by the local Lions/RoundTable massive.

[Helen]

The scouts always ran a cinder toffee stall at ours, and there was an old lady selling fudge.
Someone with a tray of jumping beans!
A touch of glamour was brought to proceedings with a local hospital radio stand.
Children's fancy dress competition.

[Alix]

Knobbly Knees competition (the vicar has to win this).

Make a miniature garden on a plate competition.

Ploughmans lunches.

If you're from round my way there would sometimes be maypole dancing, even if it wasn't May. Crazy times.

Brass bands.

[mediawasp]

Cask conditioned ale. And busty wenches.

[John Grant]

Archery
Craft demonstrations
Punch & judy
Treasure hunt
Something copied from TV
(in my day it was its a knockout)
Sack or 3 legged races
Folk dancing (esp Morris/barn dance)
Lots of charity things, raffles, stalls
A local toff/judges for various prizes

[Brett Macfarlane]

Ring toss
My Scotish roots would demand a kaber toss
My Canadian roots would demand a log rolling competition and lumberjack sports
Caricature artist (but not a cheesey one, a funny cool one who uses lots of irony)
A bicycle parade
Farmers market
Mini-donuts

[SBD]

Have we had a gurning competition?