Preparing for the Fair

What you should do

You should review the Policies, Terms, and Conditions, as well as the documents that are linked from that page.

All stallholders should bring printed copies of paperwork on the day of the Fair, including your Booking Form, Allocation Letter and your PLI. Caterers and beverage providers should already be squared up by now with our Risk Manager.

Please review your copy of the paperwork submitted to us, to verify that your PLI is in date and also that your insurance has the required amount of coverage. If it was set to auto-renew, you should send bookings@cuckoofair.co.uk the new expiry date if you haven’t already. If you have accessibility needs that we can accommodate, this should have been requested at the time of booking your space, but let Bookings know immediately, if you have not done so already.

You may want to consider getting a back-up SIM or eSIM for mobile data, in case any one particular mobile network begins to slow down with heavy use during the day. The Fair does not have wi-fi available, due to the physical size and configuration of the space. It is also important to make sure you have a back-up battery pack for card readers and phones that will need power, as there are no charging facilities on site.

Some people choose to bring something with wheels like a trolley or hand truck to make moving their stock around easier on the day, please ensure the wheels are appropriate for a surface laid to lawn. If you are to be located in the Memorial Gardens (Pink Zone or Party in the Park) with your vehicle or a trailer, make sure you have ground stability duck boards to prevent damage to the ground.

Plan the way you intend to set up your stall, so that everything is entirely within the footprint of the pitch size you requested, including your extra stock and weights for your gazebo. Try to give enough space at the sides, so that uneven ground does not cause your set-up to lean into your neighbour’s. Familiarise yourself with the layout of the Fair within the village of Downton.

What we do

Before the Fair, we have been working on recording your information, verifying insurance information is in date, following up on Risk documentation for higher risk stalls, updating maps and deciding on a layout for every stallholder within the available space. We have also been consulting with our Health & Safety team to ensure safe access and set-up for any potential emergencies.

All of our committee members work on a volunteer basis. This year we worked throughout the planning months to create a new zone, called the Pink Zone, located in the Party in the Park inside the Memorial Gardens of Downton. This involved re-mapping the area, re-evaluating risks, changing the layout to allow for an additional entertainment stage, designing new signage, and then optimising stallholder location and layout to ensure a trading zone that is unified with all other zones in the Cuckoo Fair and visible to foot traffic.

We have also been busy doing things such as arranging entertainment for the day, arranging our insurance, liaising with the Wiltshire Council’s Event Safety Advisory Group, arranging contracts to provide facilities to the Fair (including emergency medical cover, security), liaising with our local community, working with the Downton Parish Council, managing bookings and their compliance with insurance cover and safety, managing our expenses, managing our social media, particularly our Facebook page, updating signage, getting the road clear of vehicles prior to the Fair opening, the production and placement of Hostile Vehicle Mitigation barriers at the road closure points, regularly updating our website, and countless other tasks to help us pull the day off without a hitch.

Marquees will be erected, volunteers will mark out each pitch throughout The Borough (the main road through the village), Memorial Gardens (Pink Zone or Party in the Park) and Produce Market for every stallholder who has placed a booking. Depending on ground conditions due to the weather, some last-minute solutions may be necessary, resulting in last-minute updates that will be communicated via email, Facebook, our website, or even in person and/or by using our tannoy PA facility on the day.

The Morning of the Fair

What you should do

We ask our stallholders to arrive from 6:00 am, and you must aim to arrive no later than 8:00 am to drive to your pitch and unload your vehicle. The colours of the zones are indicated by the flag banners. Stallholders in the Memorial Gardens (Pink Zone or Party in the Park) will have a specific time to arrive on their allocation letters to help stagger vehicle traffic and keep everyone safe. Fairground providers are asked to arrive at 5:30 am. The speed limit is 5 mph across the Fair. Under no circumstance may you drive onto a green, or the pedestrian pavement beside them.

IMPORTANTLY – You may drive on the road to your pitch location, you must then unload your goods at your pitch promptly (aim for less than 15 minutes to unload), leave your goods at your pitch, and drive your car to the stallholders’ car park, located either opposite the Orange Zone at the West end of The Borough, or at the Baptist Church on South Lane. AFTER parking your car, go back to your pitch to set up your layout within its footprint. You are not permitted to keep your vehicle at your pitch while you set anything up, because this impedes others’ needs to unload their vehicles.

If you arrive between 8:00 and 8:30 am, security posted at the road closure by The Bull will make judgement calls as to whether it is safe for your vehicle to enter The Borough. After 8:30 am, The Borough will only have emergency vehicle access, and you will definitely be required to park in a car park less convenient for stallholders, from where you will have to carry your belongings. This can be as much as a 0.5-mile-long walk with your set-up, and you will have to pay £10 per car to park there.

Note: Any vehicles coming to the East end of the road will have at least a 5 mile/20 minute detour to get back to the West end, so please pay attention to your navigation and make sure you approach Downton via the A338 if you absolutely cannot arrive before 8:00 am.

There may be people, especially from the village, who are walking about as you set up. While you are permitted to do transactions before our event officially begins, we request that your set up be completed no later than 10:00 am, as this is the official start time of the Downton Cuckoo Fair.

Please make sure your gazebo and wares are safely contained entirely within your allocated space.

What we do

At 8:00 am, the East and West ends of The Borough are closed to all through traffic. Only the West end of The Borough will allow vehicle access for stallholders after this time. Security will be posted at both road closures to ensure the vehicle barriers are in place and they will divert traffic away from the village, allowing only emergency vehicle access after 8:30 am

Keeping vehicles out of The Borough on the day of the Fair is critical for everyone’s safety. By 8:30 am, all vehicles should be in their final parking spot for the day. At the end of the Fair, no cars can leave the stallholder car parks until crowds disperse.

We will have Zone Managers from our Security contractor, along with Cuckoo Fair volunteers wearing high-viz vests located in all zones to help ensure safety throughout the day and to help answer questions, or radio the right person for any issues you may have. Members of the Downton Cuckoo Fair committee, along with other volunteers will be present at the Information Centre for the Fair from around 6:30 am until the end of the Fair. The Information Centre is located adjacent to the Co-op, in the middle of the Fair, by the entrance to the Produce Market.

During the Fair

What you should do

Keep all personal items, stock/supplies, display units and wares for your stall and its anchors within the confines of your pitch to help ensure that foot traffic and your neighbouring stallholders are not impeded.

Also, please help your customers maintain a queue in a way that does not impede general foot traffic, your neighbouring stallholders, nor the road from where crowds may need to be ushered rapidly, for the sake of emergency vehicles. How you achieve this is up to you, but many stallholders adopt a layout within their pitch to allow people to step out of the passing foot traffic to browse, or wait.

Notify your Zone Manager if there is any issue where you need our team to support you, as they will have walkie-talkies and access to our PA system and know the right point of contact for your needs.

Please follow any instructions given to you by Zone Managers, or Security teams.

Keep note of our phone number, 07768 877639, which is another way you can contact a member of our Event Management Team if you are having issues which need our assistance. When calling this number, please be ready to give your zone and pitch number. This phone number is for calls, not texts. This phone number will only be answered on the day of the Fair.

What we do

We will continue to have volunteer team members available in the Information Tent throughout the day, to assist people attending the Fair as well as stallholders. Event Management may take photos throughout the day.

Some members of our team will also help facilitate the Fair’s entertainment throughout the day, as well as managing the PA tannoy for announcements.

Zone managers will be around throughout the Fair, ready to assist with questions and issues which may arise.

Our Security contractor will also be present throughout the day to help ensure our Fair remains safe.

We have paramedics on site to assist with any medical emergencies happening in the area, and people will be at the road blocks all day long to facilitate emergency vehicle access.

Ending of the Fair

What you should do

Stop trading at 4:30 pm prompt. Manage any queues you have before this time, to ensure you can stop on time. This is the primary driver of crowd dispersal, and therefore is considered an essential safety requirement. Note that you will not be able to collect your car from the car parks until the crowds disperse and it is safe to do so. Therefore, failure to stop trading on time may result in you not getting an invitation to return to future Fairs, due to the additional risk you posed.

Please do not dismantle your stall or try to depart before the official closure of the Fair. The gates to the stall holder car park will be locked to help ensure the safety of both you and all our visitors.

At 4:30 pm, begin taking down your pitch and DO NOT go to retrieve your vehicle until everything, including your gazebo, is dismantled and ready to load. This should be completed no later than 5:30 pm and the car park will be locked at 6:00 pm

Please minimise your waste. The bins we provide are for visitors to the Fair only, not for stallholder waste. You must take away all of your packaging materials with you at the end of the day. The Downton Girl Guides do the litter pick after the Fair, and this will help ensure their tasks are achievable in the time they have available. If you are a food vendor and your customers’ food packaging takes up an excessive amount of bin space, you will need to ensure you provide your own bin space for this, or may be requested to change how you serve your food in future.

What we do

Our zone managers will begin to usher crowds towards the exits.

The stallholder car park will begin to release vehicles in batches as the crowds disperse, to go into The Borough to pack up and leave.

Some of our volunteers will collect bins and start gathering equipment that has been rented for the day (ie. tables). We will continue to tidy up the village, to get it back to its regular state for the villagers.

We will send out a survey towards the end of the Fair to your email, requesting your feedback from the day, so we can learn from your experience and, as a committee, we can prioritise improvements based on this feedback.

Map

To demonstrate zone order and car parks

<<< TO RINGWOOD	A338			TO SALISBURY >>>
Houses			Road Closed 0830	The Bull Hotel
Access Road - mind the ramps
75		28	ROAD	Stallholder
...	ORANGE	...
...	ZONE	...	Entrance>	Car Park
51		1
Access Road - mind the ramps
60		12	ROAD
...	GREEN ZONE	...
51		1
Access Road - mind the ramps
74		24	Road
...	BLUE	...
56	ZONE	...		Party in the Park
Not Used		1
Access Road - mind the ramps			Entrance>	(Pink Zone)
58		(8)		Memorial Hall
...	YELLOW ZONE	...
50		1	ROAD	First Aid
Access Road - mind the ramps
75		25
...	RED	...
...	ZONE	...
51	MARQUEE END	0
<< to Stall Holder Car park		South Lane		Gravel Close
		61		10
<< Produce Market		WHITE ZONE	ROAD	...
		51		1
Access Road - mind the ramps
85		31
...	PURPLE	...
...	ZONE	...
51	MARQUEE END	1
Green Lane / Access Road - mind the ramps
Borough Zones Schematic - Web Site TablePress ID 12			To Tannery Bridge, New Forest ROAD CLOSED 0830

The numbers are the start and end pitch numbers. Basically numbers 1 to around 30 are on the side nearest the through B road, numbers 50+ are on the side nearest the houses and they increase as you head towards The Bull Hotel / A338

Google Earth Map of Downton, with Zone Location Indicated