Great Dorset Steam Fair

Typical sight in the heavy haulage arena, three road locomotives combining efforts to haul a trailer, carrying a small diesel shunter, around the arena (2007).

The Great Dorset Steam Fair (since 2010 also known as The National Heritage Show) is an annual show featuring steam-powered vehicles and machinery. It now covers 600 acres (2.4 km²) and runs for five days from the Wednesday after the UK August bank holiday. It is reputedly the largest outdoor show in the world.^{[citation needed]}

The fair was founded by Michael Oliver, who died in 2009, and has been held in Dorset, England, every summer since 1969, currently at Tarrant Hinton near Blandford Forum. The show is now run by Michael Oliver's son, Martin Oliver through Great Dorset Steam Fair Ltd.

Exhibits

The steam fair in 2004

The most numerous exhibits are traction engines, tractors and farm machinery, but there are also sections for classic cars and commercial vehicles, working shire horses, rustic crafts, 'bygones' displays, and more. The show also has a market, autojumble, live music and funfair (some of which is powered by the steam engines). The funfair has traditional rides such as gallopers and steam boats, as well as modern ones like the "World Fair Wheel" which was sited in Manchester for the millennium. It is the biggest gathering of fairground organs in the UK.^{[citation needed]}

The show regularly attracts around 200,000 visitors,^[1] and there can be 30,000 people on site, making the fair the fourth largest population centre in Dorset, after Bournemouth, Poole, and Weymouth (the population of the historic town of Dorchester being only half that number).^[2]

A speciality of the show is the display of traction engines and steam rollers performing the work for which they were designed. Such displays include heavy haulage, threshing, sawing logs, ploughing and road-making. The main arena of the show is purposely sited on the slope of a hill to allow both steam- and internal combustion-powered machinery to demonstrate their capacity for heavy load hauling. One of the main displays is the "Showman's Line up", in the vintage fairground section, which is thought to be the largest collection of showman's engines in the world.

Since 2003, the show has contracted its own radio station, Steam Fair FM, broadcasting 24 hours daily from the Saturday prior to the show, to the Monday following – 10 days in all. The station, which is also streamed on the internet, covers show news and views, weather and other relevant information with plenty of listener dedications and a format of "Vintage Hits".^[3] During the event, the station is advertised on roads in the surrounding area and provides traffic news for drivers using the A354 Blandford to Salisbury road that passes the show site.

The end of the fair is marked with a Thanksgiving Service on the Sunday, at 12 noon, and takes place on the stage of Dean's Bioscope, the Silver Bell, organised for many years by Chris Edmonds, the Lay Chaplain until his death in 2007.

For the 40th anniversary, in 2008, the organisers recreated the very first fair, by tracing all of the exhibits that were displayed at the 1968 show.^[4]

Dorset Sound Festival

Night-time view of the line-up of showman's engines, in the fairground (2007).

2008 saw the start of the Dorset Sound Festival, a music event that is held alongside the main fair, designed to entertain a wide variety of musical tastes.^{[citation needed]} The festival included five stages: the Main Stage, Real Ale Stage, Folk Stage, Country & Western Marquee and the Black Bull Marquee. Bands featured were mainly tribute acts, including the Bootleg Beatles.

In 2009, the Main Stage was changed from being inside a marquee to an outdoor concert stage. This required a concert ticket to be purchased unlike the other marquees that are free to visitors of the fair. 2009 saw the start of a new event called Steam Sounds that showcases unsigned artists from around the local area on the outdoor stage.

See also

• List of steam fairs
• Steam Era

References

1. ^ Preview of 38th Fair, BBC Dorset, 2006.
2. ^ Paul Appleton and Ian Allan, A Celebration of Great Dorset Steam, 2006. ISBN 0711031959.
3. ^ "Steam Fair FM". Great Dorset Steam Fair. http://www.steamfairfm.com. Retrieved 19 October 2010. 
4. ^ Great Dorset Steam Fair – 2007 Programme.

External links

• Official website
• Music Festival
• BBC Dorset 2008 report
• BBC Dorset report on 37th Fair (2005)