2024 Canterbury Fair is July 27
CANTERBURY, NEW HAMPSHIRE—The 66th annual Canterbury Fair, a celebration of small-town community, will take place in the town’s historic center on Saturday, July 27, beginning at 9:00 AM with the Woodchuck Classic 5k Road Race and 2k Chipmunk Classic Kids Run.
The Canterbury Fair will also include children’s games on the green, a used book sale, live music, a display of operating antique machinery, demonstrations of traditional handicrafts, canoe polo on the fire pond, delicious food to satisfy every craving, and a huge “What-Not” tag sale at the nearby elementary school.
The Fair’s success depends on local organizations, such as the Sunset Mountain Fish and Game Club, which will provide the chicken barbecue. Tickets for the barbecue will be available for sale throughout the morning of the Fair.
Music will fill Canterbury Center for most of the day with performers will be announced soon!
The Canterbury Historical Society’s displays of local history will be open throughout the day at the Houser Museum, the historic one-room schoolhouse adjacent to the library, and at the old Elkins Memorial Building.
The deadline to pre-register for the Woodchuck races is noon on July 26.
Parking will be available nearby for a $5 suggested donation, with free bus service to the Fair. Canterbury Center will be closed to regular vehicular traffic from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Proceeds from the Fair benefit the Canterbury Fund, which aids local families in need, and the community service programs of the Canterbury United Community Church.
The Canterbury Fair as we know it today began in 1958 when the Canterbury Ladies Benevolent Society added a chicken barbecue to the “Canterbury Country Fair and Bazaar” it had been sponsoring for several years. Proceeds from the early fairs were used primarily to furnish a new community building which replaced one that had been destroyed by a fire, along with most of the town center, in 1943.
The Canterbury Fair, always the last Saturday in July, will wrap up with tolling of church bells at 4:00 PM.
For more information visit www.canterburyfair.com or email canterburyfair@gmail.com, with updates on Facebook and Instagram.