June Horse Fair cancelled for first time in over 100 years

The annual June Horse Fair has been held in Derry’s Brandywell for well over a century, but due to Covid-19 it will now be cancelled for the first time.
By Darryl Armitage
Published 21st Apr 2020, 08:38 BST
The annual June Horse Fair has been held in Derry’s Brandywell for well over a century, but due to Covid-19 it will now be cancelled for the first timeThe annual June Horse Fair has been held in Derry’s Brandywell for well over a century, but due to Covid-19 it will now be cancelled for the first time
The annual June Horse Fair has been held in Derry’s Brandywell for well over a century, but due to Covid-19 it will now be cancelled for the first time

Traditionally the fair is held on June 17 and has been run by local equestrian enthusiasts over many generations.

The fair managed to survive war, depression and was a very rare example of continuing cross community and cross border relations during the darkest days of the Troubles.

The event has remained untouched for decades – keeping the traditional Irish Horse Fair alive in the north west.

Organisers have made the difficult decision to cancel this years event, Noel Gallagher from the organising committee said: “The fair has survived some very tough times, but this global pandemic is unprecedented.

“Although June 17 is a while away yet we just don’t know what is going to happen with Covid-19, so we took the decision to cancel this years event. We hope to take this time as an opportunity to review the fair and see how we can make it bigger and better in 2021.”

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Related topics:OrganisersBrandywellDerryCovid-19Noel GallagherNorthern Ireland