Scarborough Fair 2012

Scarborough Fair 2012 was setting up as usual this afternoon on the William Street carpark. Nowadays it consists only of rides and stalls, and lasts four days.

The original Scarborough fair lasted 45 days and was a huge street trading event. Merchants came to it from all areas of England, Europe, Norway, Denmark, the Baltic and the Byzantine Empire.

The traditional folk song about that fair is known world wide because in 1965 Paul Simon was a 24 year-old happily playing around the UK folk clubs mostly performing his own compositions but one traditional folk song which made an impression on him was "Scarborough Fair".

Simon had heard the British folk singer Martin Carthy perform the song and as Carthy recalled: "during the course of the evening I wrote the thing down for him".