Queen's Retinue
Get your flags out, your fair frock on and your arches up because it’s almost time for the best day of the year.
By Jenny Scott
Thousands of excited children are anxiously waiting for 9’oclock, probably the only time of the year they are actually impatient for school to begin. Wherever you look people are dressed up, be it in regal costumes, fancy dress or their very finest. There’s not a car or bus to be seen, the only noise heard on the streets is the resounding chorus of pipe bands dotted all over the town. Girls in matching white dresses carrying huge baskets of freshly cut flowers are surrounded by dancing boys kitted out in sparkling spandex whilst fairies are vigorously tugging on their wings and giving their wands a final once over, anxious to get on their way and use the ‘special fairy walk’ they have been learning for the last two months. Just what exactly is going on in the sleepy little mining town of Bo’ness?
It’s the Fair Day. Or to use it’s full title ‘The Borrowstounness Children’s Fair Day Festival.’ The biggest of it’s kind in Europe and easily the most important day of the year for any true Bo’nessian, effortlessly eclipsing Christmas or Easter. It’s difficult to show how passionate Bo’ness is about it’s Fair Day without experiencing it firsthand for yourself, however Douglas Snedden, the famous ‘voice of the Fair’ sums up how the locals feel perfectly: “Over the years, we may have lost our docks, our pits, our hosiery’s and our potteries but the one thing we haven’t lost is our fantastic community spirit – this sense of camaraderie – that has seen our fair grow from strength to strength as the years go on and long may it continue to do so. For wouldn’t Bo’ness be a poorer place without it”.
Since it’s beginnings in 1779 the Fair Day has changed significantly. What originally started as a celebration to the end of the thirling of miners – one eyewitness described the first fair day as “a drunken orgy” among the coalminers of the district – gradually evolved in to the lavish festivities that are even more popular today than ever before. Nowadays the Fair is all about creating a huge send off for the children before the summer holidays begin and the town does a brilliant job at kick starting the summer with a bang.
It is easy to be wary of events like these but by no means is the Fair Day a small town conspiracy, a communal effort to overemphasize yet another ‘gala day’ to try and drum up a sense of self importance. What sets the Fair Day apart from your typical small town event or fete is tradition, dedication, and the undeniably strong sense of community noticeable by anyone visiting the town. There is also the participation of visitors welcomed from as close as the next town over to as far as Canada, Russia and Norway, to name but a few. Steven Herd, one of the volunteers who runs Valley Fm, the radio station dedicated to all things fair day, gives a visitors account of the day firsthand: “I feel that it takes someone who does not come from Bo’ness to realize the extreme proportions of the fair, both physically and financially. However, Bo’nessians see this almost religious act of keeping money aside for the smallest chance that their child will be chosen almost common-place . . .so it is this fact which amazes me most; the extent to which families dedicate themselves to this event. I now believe that Bo’ness is either a town of understatements or perhaps just blind modesty”. And there is no greater honor, or financial strain than having your daughter crowned Queen of the Fair Day.
The sheer time and effort put in by the Queen’s family is astounding and is a point that has been commented on in many of the National newspapers as ‘ludicrous’ and a complete waste of money and resources etc. People spend thousands, and I mean thousands on scaffolding and wood, professional painters and decorators not to mention joiners, just to build an impressive ‘arch’, the local terminology used for a house frontage, essentially there to advertise your child and the part they play in the Fair. Of course there’s other things to consider as well, such as the costumes that have to be tailor made, the hairstyles that have to be constructed by hairdressers called out on the fair morning amongst the many other ‘essentials’ that make up the perfect fair day. So why do people risk getting themselves in to so much debt? The short and simple answer is: happy memories.
The parents of this small town are doing their very best to provide their children with as many happy childhood memories to look back on as possible, fundamentally the reason the fair has been going on for so long, is more popular than ever and will probably continue to be a crucial event in the towns calendar for years to come. Ex-Queen Samantha-Lee Sherratt describes her fond memories of the year she was crowned Queen: “Nothing can describe that feeling of being woken up by the pipe band and realizing it’s the Fair Day. And not just any Fair Day but the most important one of your life. Putting on my dress and riding in the horse drawn carriage to the park is the most excited and nervous I’ve ever felt. But when 11 o’clock chimed on the Glebe Park clock and I finally became Queen, and there were over twenty thousand people screaming and cheering for me, that was the best feeling in the world.” The parents and grandparents of Bo’ ness have already had their happy Fair memories and now they want the same for their children who, if tradition remains unbroken, will want the same for their own hopefully continuing the tradition.
Of course it’s not just the locals who have fond memories of the Fair or who return to it every year to try and rekindle happier times, there’s something for everyone and it’s hard not to find something to be impressed by or enjoy. In order to experience the full effect it is recommended you arrive the night before the big day, dubbed the Fair’ene. Spend a warm, sunny, summer evening strolling around the town admiring all the arches then off to bed to make sure you’re bright eyed and bushy tailed for your early start the following day. Then you’ve got two processions, the crowning of the Queen, the live entertainment and stalls at Douglas Park, ‘the shows’ and of course the fair day is not complete without a barbecue. This year will be the 100th Fair Day to be held so what better time to come and visit? So whether your young or old, local or not, it’s well worth investing some time in a visit to the Bo’ness Children’s Fair Festival, you never know, you could become one of the adopted locals returning every year. It’s the best way to do it, all the perks of the Fair without dealing with the big cleanup afterwards.
