The Newent Onion Fayre has a strong claim for being the best value event in all of Gloucestershire.

Held in centre of Newent, the one-day fayre brings together a whole community who come to see the now famous onion competitions as well as enjoy live music and entertainment on what is the busiest day of the year for the Forest of Dean market town.

The fayre, held on Saturday 8th September, promises to be a great day out for the whole family, with event organiser David Sass in confident mood the 2018 event will be a day to remember for the town. He said: “The Newest Onion Fayre has become a real highlight for many people in the Forest of Dean. It’s a great day, one that brings together a whole community and attracts plenty of visitors to the area.
“Attendances have built up so much over the years, we’ll be expecting somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand visitors in one day which is quite amazing when you think that the Forest of Dean is a very rural location. The festival is free to enter, and we only charge £5 for car parking.”

The Onion Show is the undoubted highlight of the festival for many people. Staged in the Memorial Hall, exhibitors come from all over Great Britain to enter their onions in the competition, with cash prizes on offer and trophies given out to the winners. There are also classes for children and adults to show off their artistic talents and make an animal out of vegetables.

Another event sure to attract a big crowd is the onion eating competition. Competitors will be stood on the main festival stage and will attempt to consume a raw onion in the fastest possible time. David Continued: “The onion eating competition is always a real laugh. It’s quite impressive seeing how fast the competitors can eat the onions. The crowd cheer all the competitors on, it’s a great atmosphere.

“The onion show is very important – that’s what started it all but there’s plenty of other things to enjoy. The festival is very much catered for the whole family, with fairground rides, live music, food and drink and lots of displays to enjoy. Our food village is always very popular – it’s right next to an acoustic music stage so it’s a great place to pick up some food, listen to music and relax.

“The festival is great for the local community, it’s very rare you have an event this big in what is a really rural part of the country. Figures suggest that the festival is worth over £200,000 to the local economy with shops, restaurants and hotels really benefiting from the event.

“This year our nominated charity is the Air Ambulance, we will obviously help local charities as well by giving them space to set up their stalls on the streets of Newent. It’s a great day out, I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t visited us before to come along.”