Free Weekend Special: More Street Fairs Than You Can Chuck A Greased Pig At

You can’t beat the Great British country fete, they cry to us city dwellers. A stroll to the village green for colourful maypole dancing. Jolly Punch & Judy show. Cream tea and locally-caught fish ‘n chips for supper.

Or how about a half hour drive to a muddy field, where a selection of unstable fairground rides blast crackling 90s Euro Techno, while grey burgers and candyfloss make up the food offerings?

The truth is London does a very good impression of the best village green experience. It’s possible to walk to a different community event pretty much every weekend of the summer. And this is what we celebrate today: they’re free, diverting and if the weather doesn’t play ball, you’re rarely more than a minute from a decent pint/coffee/curry. How many of our countryside cousins can claim that?

This summer sees a particularly hectic calendar of such events, with the Jubilee/Olympic ballyhoo throwing things into overdrive. Camden Council have really entered into the spirit and waived fees for such bashes this year too.

Our fiesta of free weekends starts with the Alma Street Fair on May 27th. Last year’s event was a heady mix of all that’s great about Kentish Town, from local beer to local chart bothering pop sensations.

Yet all the joy was perhaps a little too abandoned for some residents, so this year’s plans are set to be toned down. It’s also one of many annual events that has shifted forward in the calendar to avoid the capital’s big sporting moment, so let’s hope it retains the shorts-and-shades pleasures of previous balmy years.

The following weekend sees a rash of Jubilee street parties, with community centres like Holly Lodge and Highgate Newtown acting like it’s 1977 all over again. There’s tea, bunting and children’s activities aplenty on Sat 2nd June. Meanwhile, Bartholomew residents also have a street tea, as do the City Farm and there are plenty more through the long weekend to Tuesday, when it’s Clarence Way’s turn to display the royalist flag waving spirit.

There’s a glut of exciting options on June 16th, with the long established Primrose Hill Summer Fair returning to Chalcot Square. Last year Mini Kentishtowner declared the authentically violent Punch & Judy show as ‘ridiculously fun’ (although she was proper freaked out by the lady swanning about on stilts in Victorian dress), while I observed the mother-in-law’s mind boggling at the immodest carnival costumes up on the stage.

Meanwhile another established event in a ‘village’ location takes place on June 16 in Highgate at The Fair In The Square, where such country fete traditions as baking, preserves, plants and crafts feature alongside the children’s activities, music and other outdoor razzmatazz.

Don’t forget how easy it is to get to Kew on the Overground either (that’s out in the countryside isn’t it?) where the popular Kew Green Fete, also on June 16, has vintage rides, over 100 craft stalls and a dog show.

Slightly closer, the bunting will be out for the Festival on Kilburn Grange, July 8th, an alfresco party that is the culmination of the 10-day local Film Festival too.

There are community centre street events in both Ingestre Road and Somerstown on July 14th and we’re big fans of the Hampstead Heath Community Summer Fair that falls on Sun 15th too, with its posh dog show and the welcome pedestrianisation of South End Green. Throw in a breezy walk across the Heath and only a greased pig is missing to complete the authentic country fayre vibe.

The Olympics dominate from here onwards, so for your freebie party fix you’ll be headed into the shadow of a big park TV screen or the reliable South Bank, let alone stalwarts like Notting Hill Carnival that should enjoy an Olympic spruce up.

Once the Paralympics have rolled out of town, it’s back to hyperlocal business though, with Lady Somerset Road having their low key but lovely little street bash on Sept 9th, and a celebration of 200 years of Regent’s Canal taking place at Camley St Natural Park in King’s Cross on the Sept 16th, bringing music and events in this thoroughly idyllic countryside setting (with good links to central Paris).

Phew. We’re knackered now. And there are loads more, so please add comments with your favourites. And if you simply can’t wait to get the trestle tables out, this Saturday Parliament Hill Farmer’s Market have a spring plant fair to get your juices going.

Hell, those estate agents may just be right: we really are still living in a collection of villages.

Words & Pics: Tom Kihl