PICTURES: All the fun of the fair as Peter Fair returns to Buckie
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
THERE was a warm Buckie welcome to greet the return of one of the oldest fairs in Scotland when Peter Fair came to town.
Organised by Horne's Pleasure Fairs, the three-day extravaganza of fun pitched up at the site of the former Rathven Market over Wednesday to Friday, July 26-28.
There were plenty of favourite rides to enjoy, including the Freak Out, Fast 'n' Furious and Move It, to name but a few, with something for everyone from the thrill seekers to those who prefer their fairground rides a little more on the sedate side.
For the younger visitors to Peter Fair not quite ready for the full-on adrenalin options, there was a selection of popular rides available.
No fair is complete without the chance for fair-goers to try their hand at winning a prize or two and there were plenty stalls where skill and the need for a keen eye were required to leave with a keepsake from the day.
The weather, as was the case across the country, proved to be a mixed bag although the dreaded washout mercifully never materialised.
Christian Horne, from Horne's Pleasure Fairs, reflected on strong local tradition of supporting Peter Fair, even in these harsher economic times.
He said: "Now that things are back to normal after Covid many of our customers are back taking holidays to Spain or wherever, they've been saving up and are off on their break when the fairs come round.
"This obviously has had an impact on us and we were expecting a downturn.
"However, in the north there's a lot of support for events like Peter Fair and the Turriff Show, there's still a strong tradition of coming along and backing them.
"It was great for us to be back here for Peter Fair."
However, he went on to note that the cost of living crisis would start to bite Horne's and other fairs.
"Last year after Covid Peter Fair was a bit smaller than it had been previously and it remained at that size for this year," Mr Horne continued.
"To be honest, I can't see us returning to the days when we filled the field at Peter Fair.
"As a business, coming out of Covid we've done better than a lot of other fairs, so we haven't felt the cost of living crisis too badly so far. Prices are always going up but it hasn't got particularly worse.
"However, our customers don't have the money for extras and this going to start hitting us. Going to the fair isn't an essential expenditure."
Mr Horne added that while paying by card instead of cash was becoming increasingly popular, he said that it was having an impact on the business due to the fees charged by banks and card issuers on every transaction.
