A fair (archaic: fayre) is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may last as long as ten weeks. Activities at fairs vary widely. Some trade fairs are important regular business events where either products are traded between businesspeople, as at the Frankfurt Book Fair, where publishers sell book rights in other markets to other publishers, or where products are showcased to largely consumer attendees, as for example in agricultural districts where they present opportunities to display and demonstrate the latest machinery on the market to farmers.
Fairs are also known by many different names around the world, such as agricultural show, fête, county fair, exhibition or state fair, festival, market and show. Flea markets and auto shows are sometimes incorporated into a fair.
Read more about Fair: Fayre, Fairgrounds, History, Free Fairs
Famous quotes containing the word fair:
“If there be any man who thinks the ruin of a race of men a small matter, compared with the last decoration and completions of his own comfort,—who would not so much as part with his ice- cream, to save them from rapine and manacles, I think I must not hesitate to satisfy that man that also his cream and vanilla are safer and cheaper by placing the negro nation on a fair footing than by robbing them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“...I had been fed, in my youth, a lot of old wives’ tales about the way men would instantly forsake a beautiful woman to flock around a brilliant one. It is but fair to say that, after getting out in the world, I had never seen this happen ....”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“Ah! from the soul itself must issue forth
A light, a glory, a fair luminous cloud
Enveloping the Earth.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)