| Where: | Newent, Gloucestershire in the Market Square |
| When: | 2nd Saturday in September |
| Time: | 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 has been held since the Twelfth Century but the Onion Eating competition has only been going 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 were classes for men and women with different sized onions, peeled ready for consumption and provided by the organisers – the winner was the one who gobbled their onion fastest. You could expect plenty of tears and grimacing! The show features 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.
Helpful Hints
In 2025 a new event took place over the weekend of Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September which incorporated elements of the Onion Fayre plus Civil War historical re-enactments from the Sealed Knot- 2026 details are yet to be announced.
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.
The town centre is closed to traffic to accommodate the event – signposted parking should be 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. In 2018 there was onion ice cream…
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.