Appleby Horse Fair has kicked off for 2023 with hot weather, closed pubs and some slow traffic.
The 250-year-old annual gathering of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people began yesterday, Thursday June 8, and will run until Wednesday.
High temperatures of up to 28 degrees are expected to hit the town over the weekend and the Met Office has also issued a thunderstorm warning for Sunday.
While traffic was calm over Wednesday night into Thursday morning, some fair-goers reported on TikTok that queues of up to three hours had formed at 5.30am today.
Police are reporting that the fair appears to be calm. Today, Friday, one arrest has been made. A man in his 20s, from the Lancashire area, has been arrested for driving dangerously and failure to stop.
On Thursday, the event got off to a quiet and peaceful start in the town as fair goers slowly began arriving and getting settled in.
The tradition of washing the horses in the River Eden, which runs through the town, also started.
The cultural spectacle for one visitor, Wendy Lomas, was particularly special as she travelled all the way from Rochdale to witness it.
She said: “I have always had a fascination with the fair, it has always been on my bucket list, this is my first time visiting Appleby.
“I’ve wanted to come for years, it’s just beautiful watching them wash the horses in the water and seeing the youngsters who grow up with all this culture.”
The river was quiet enough for some youngsters to don helmets and learn how to enter the water for the first time with the aid of parents.
Dozens of ornate carriages could be seen heading up and down in the town before the main road was closed around noon as people started to gather in the street under the sun.
Horses of all shapes, sizes and ages were tied up along the street, some wearing traditional tack and others without any at all.
Chris Shaw, a co-ordinator at World Horse Welfare, a charity seeking to improve the lives of horses, travelled from the East Midlands to attend the fair and has been doing so for 15 years.
He said: “We’ll be here over the weekend to help people with their horses and we’ll also be keeping an eye out for any problems. So far we haven’t had any as of yet, we’re just hoping that everyone will have a good fair.”
Chris added that the hot weather was a big concern for the animal charities and welfare groups in attendance and that dehydration and drowning were their main worries for horses over the coming week.
Several cafes remained open all day Thursday and traffic wardens were out in force in the centre of the town – where horses and carts are banned – handing out parking tickets.
Travelling Man festival has also set up on Fair Hill to give fair goers a space to drink and socialise alongside the addition of a large beer tent.
A large amount of Appleby’s pubs and hotel bars are closed for the event – some are closed for the entire week, while others are planning to serve customers through openings in windows.
Chief Superintendent Matt Kennerley, of Cumbria police, said: “It’s day one for Appleby but it’s not day one for policing. We’ve been in and around surrounding towns and villages for a number of weeks now dealing with all sorts of issues.
“We’re expecting the weekends hot weather to bring in very high volumes of people.”
Matt has policed the event for 15 years at various levels throughout his career and at different parts of the fair. He added that officers have resources ready for significant disorder and basic crime.
He added: “It is nerve-wracking. You have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders and you have to act quickly in the event of something going wrong.
“But we’re hoping for a good weekend and we are urging people to allow extra time for their journey’s here and asking them to plan around where car parks are in advance because it is going to be so busy.”
While traffic was calm over Wednesday night into Thursday morning, some fair-goers reported on TikTok that queues of up to three hours had formed at 5.30am today.
We’ll be covering Appleby Horse Fair 2023 as the weekend goes on. If you’ve got a story or important information to share with us about the event, email us at [email protected]
