| Where: | Newent, Gloucestershire- new event now at Newent Lake (formerly in the Market Square) |
| When: | 2nd Saturday in September |
| Time: | 10 am-6pm (Formerly from 11 am onwards with competition at 1pm) |
The Onion Fayre at Newent is the only British celebration devoted to the ever useful vegetable; it’s been held since the Twelfth Century but the Onion Eating competition has only been a fixture since the mid-1990s, with a few breaks, so you get an ancient and a recent custom in one day! Pre-covid there was an onion show, lots of stalls, a fairground, music and street entertainers going all day; the eating competition started at 1 pm. There are classes for men and women with different sized onions, peeled ready for consumption and provided by the organisers – the winner is the one who gobbles their onion fastest. You can expect plenty of tears and grimacing! The show featured numerous classes including character displays – we were particularly taken with Henry VIII and his Six Chives and the giraffe with leek legs. The revival in 2025 combined the onion eating with civil war era re-enactments for the first time. In 2026 the revived tradition is being held at a new location, this time with a medieval theme, so it appears that the competition should still be a regular fixture going forward, though the events organised for the community on that weekend may vary from year to year.
Helpful Hints
In 2026 there should be a living history and live music event on 12th September wit a medieval theme at Newent Lake from 10 am -6 pm which includes onion eating contests. Entry is free! Follow the links below for full details.
In 2022 it should have been on Saturday 10th September but was cancelled- and the future of the fair appeared very uncertain owing to ongoing financial and personnel problems post-pandemic. In 2025 a new event took place on the regular weekend in mid September which incorporated elements of the old Onion Fayre along with a Civil War re-enactment from the Sealed KnotInstead, the committee now plan a series of community events and the Onion Eating is still a popular annual fixture. in September
The town centre was closed to traffic to accommodate the event when it was in the town centre and signposted parking was available in a field on the edge of town.
If you prefer eating your onions as an ingredient rather than on their own, there should be plenty of local produce available at the event. When we went there was onion ice cream…
Click here for Newent Celebrates: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573179750965
Click here for the event website : http://www.newentonionfayre.org/
I would like to write an article about the Onion Festival. Is there anyone I could interview who is involved with this annual event? Have you got a contact e-mail.? Will the event take place in the second week of September in 2008?
Best wishes,
John Greeves
johngreeves@live.co.uk
Hi John,
The Onion Fayre is on September 8th – if you click the link from the Calendar Custums page about the fair, you’ll get through to their own website. Scroll down the list at the left hand side of their page and you’ll find a contacts bar – click on that and a new page pops up with several contact email addresses on, so hopefully one of them will be able to give you all the info you need for your article. Good luck!
Averil.