WELCOME TO THE FAIR

All the fun at the Fair

David Edmunds, the newly appointed festival director of Scarborough Fair, talks about his new role and about plans to re-establish the fair and a year-round programme of events on the Yorkshire coast

It’s early days when StandOut talks to David Edmunds, festival director of Scarborough Fair. In fact, Edmunds has not even started his new role yet. He begins his new post in March 2023 and will hit the ground running when he heads to the Yorkshire coast to re-establish and reimagine a once majestic and magical fair.

Established under Royal Charter in 1254, the original Scarborough Fair drew merchants from as far away as the Ottoman Empire to sell goods to hundreds of visitors each August and September. The fair survived for 430 years, taking place for the last time in 1788.

After a 235-year absence, The Scarborough Fair is set to return under Edmunds’ stewardship. The plan is for it to become a year-round programme of arts, heritage, culinary, and sporting events at venues throughout the seaside town. Facilities based at Scarborough Open Air Theatre are to be used as the “engine shed” for an ambitious and innovative programme of music, light, sports, and arts events and festivals, which will be marketed under the umbrella that is the Scarborough Fair.

HONESTY AND IMMERSION

Edmunds will lead on the delivery of the fair, which will span three years from 2023 to 2026 initially. He will work with local artists, communities, businesses, visiting companies, and established professionals to co-design and produce the festival. This has been made possible with investment from the Government’s Towns Fund, of which Scarborough was awarded £20.2m.

The first event – which could take place as early as autumn 2023 – is set to be a light festival. However, Edmunds’ first priority is to lock an events programme in place before the council and town moves into 2024.

“Scarborough has character and heart and I think we can create some ambitious events,” said Edmunds. “I am coming to the town with fresh eyes and ears. Yorkshire is full of myth and intrigue and it’s also a big county. The fair is about tourism, and we want to encourage people to visit the town and drive that secondary spend but the fair is also for local residents.

Edmunds intends to “fully immerse” himself in the town. He expects residents to be totally honest with him and believes this “real honesty” will drive the fair’s agenda and programme.

“There’s a unique quirkiness to Scarborough,” he added. “It’s very easy to produce a programme of events in a big city but in a coastal, seaside town it’s different. But there’s momentum in Scarborough and the conditions are right for us to have a good crack at it.”

BOOST SKILLS

Scarborough Borough Council is planning on developing a year-long programme of events, consisting of a winter lights festival, international street arts festival, affordable art trail, and a music and action sports festival; think Boardmasters and Bournemouth 7s.

The three-day sports competition and music festival, hosted at the Open Air Theatre, as a ticketed event in September is to be developed with the council’s delivery partner Live Nation and relevant sports events companies.

Edmunds confirmed that the council will work with both public and private organisations to develop the fair. Plus, Scarborough Fair intends to apply for Arts Council England funding to help produce the events.

“We want to boost the skills that are in the town and give local people an opportunity to develop more skills, and we will be bringing in people to help deliver the events so I will be dialling into the skills in the events industry.”

ENERGY AND ENTHUSIASM

Edmunds is currently festival director for The Arches Festivals in Worcester. His vast back catalogue of experience includes delivering several large-scale outdoor commissions during Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture and working as associate producer for Imove, a project involving artists throughout the UK, which was inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Furthermore, he has also worked with England Rugby and Leeds City Council to develop and implement the creative vision and programme of work for the official cultural celebrations of the Rugby World Cup in Leeds in 2015. Therefore, he is well-placed to develop Scarborough Fair, which will play a central role in the town’s regeneration, progress the place-making agenda, and animate the local community.

“We need the festival to be sustainable,” continued Edmunds. “The fair will be a mix of free and ticketed events. So, for example, the sports and music festival will be more of a commercial event.”

Edmunds says that many announcements will be made in early summer. He concluded: “I have worked in events for a long time and have a lot of experience in this field. I have 20 years of creative contacts, energy, and enthusiasm.

“Roald Dahl once said that lukewarm is no good and that hot is no good either. White hot and passionate are the only things to be. Nobody achieves anything by being half-hearted. You have to be all in, so I will push to give the town what it deserves.”

DAVID EDMUNDS

Image: Scarborough Borough Council – Richard Ponter Photography

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