You may have a wide range of little stalls but you must have activities in the centre to pull people together, promote a common atmosphere and provide a focus.

If you have a theme for your Feast then the arena events must complement it. If not you could aim for something dramatic (?motor cycle stunt team, microlight flying? piano smashing?) entertaining (a band, a dance group), or participatory (a tug of war, a yard of ale competition).

To be seen by many people you'll have to have something visually appealing and visible.

You should again play to your strengths. Is there a Scottish Country Dance group who would perform free? Is there a singer who lives locally who could make a set of songs his/her contribution? Does the school have a brass band which could perform? Is there a warehouse storing old pianos?

Many of these things will occupy people and provide entertainment without distracting them from the stalls. The game on the left consisted of throwing water over a "wall" to fill a series of cups (I think).This was watched by people sitting on straw bales around the edge of the arena.

Others may be so dramatic that they could attract people when they appear in your advertising and bring in more punters. Probably you need a combination of these.

We could divide the activities into two groups:

1. Activities to keep people there and 2. Activities to make money.

Events To Keep People

These are events which people will look forward to and wait until they appear.

They may be quite expensive and will probably not make money as such, but if they attract people to your Feast and those people then stay longer, they are more likely to buy food and spend money at stalls. We have had a piano smashing competition for several years - see the girls team, left. Beware the potential for danger, however. In fact we had some close encounters with danger here and from 2003 decided to cancel the piano smashing competition.

Imagine that you want to hire a large "bungee run" where people strain to run up a PVC tunnel while tied to an elastic rope. Great fun for spectators and participants alike, but it costs £250 to hire for the day. Is that £250 of lost profits or will it indirectly raise money for you?

If it brings in 100 people who wouldn't have come otherwise the figures could be: £1 entry, £1 profit on food, 50p profit on drink and £1 spent at stalls. That could be £350, or £100 clear profit.
In fact you're unlikely to know how many came because of this single attraction (except by using a questionnaire, when you evaluate) but so long as you don't extend your risk too far by raising fixed costs to an unacceptably high level, an apparently expensive event may lead to profits in many other areas. You might even be able to arrange that the bungee run's owners pocket all their own earnings and you are cleared of any loss, but that suggests rather a lack of faith on your part!

In 2003 we decided to go for an "It's a Knockout" competition including Chariot Racing.

The idea was to have several elimination rounds in the preceding week in which pub and club teams competed against each other for an hour or so in the early evening, thus giving more activity (on the ground and at the bar) plus a higher level of competition in the semis and finals on the day of The Feast. The chariots were specially made carts designed for one person to stand or kneel in (including a roll bar for safety) and pulled by two or more people. Cycle crash hats were worn, with the addition of a plume or crest (the acceptable face of safety...). To see the commercial game this is based on visit It's a Knockout.

2.Activities To Make Money

This is rather more clear cut. I'll define these events as activities on the day of your feast which don't monopolise the whole audience - stalls, pony rides (I was at a fair in Australia where they had camel rides!) coconut shy, Beat The Goalie competitions, throw the horseshoe etc. For a longer list, see Chapter 11. Some of these may be run mainly for entertainment, but all should be designed to at least break even. Many will need no financing, others a small loan for materials; some will need people manning a stall all day, others can be over in an hour. These are generally activities which people choose as their own preference, so accept all offers with equal enthusiasm, though it makes sense to have a list of suggestions so interested people don't escape because of lack of inspiration.

If Brownies make £15 from home-made sweets, playgroup £20 from face painting, the cricket club £85 from "hit the stump with the ball" (all profit, no outgoings) that's as significant a contribution as the £1000 profit on the barbecue and roast. They've contributed to the atmosphere and they've got involved.

Music

This may be a big arena event, a general background atmosphere or a one hour concert by a band on the edge of a field. Scottish agricultural shows usually feature a pipe band marching around the arena and through the crowd. I think a brass band is popular with most age groups and the sound carries well in the open air. On the other hand we've had great success with a singer of 1960's songs playing with an amplified backing track. Certainly background music of some kind, whether live, from a barrel organ or on tape, adds significantly to the atmosphere of the event.

In the 1930's The Shelford Feast had a large steam driven merry-go-round and organ which was a great attraction for both young and old. Sadly few of these exist outside of museums and commercial fairs, though we know of a couple who come to our Feast and play a barrell organ to raise funds for a local hospital.

If you do need recorded music or if you'll have need to make announcements or commentate on events, you'll need a PA system and power with which to run it. I deal with power in Chapter 8 but if you have no power you can still manage with a brass band, a hand operated barrel organ and a megaphone. A system of flags and signs could alert people to events.

Basically, if you can, get a PA system if you're out of doors and have more than a few hundred people. But check out the guy with the loudest voice too!

A Theme

One way of creating more interest and linking separate events is to have a theme.

This may be already clear to you if you are celebrating an anniversary (we have celebrated the church's 600th birthday, the ending of the second world war and Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee) and it is possible for participants to dress historically or for a "Jeux Sans Frontieres" to incorporate symbols of the theme.

We have found the organisation of this to be too great and though we did consider asking shopkeepers to sell their goods at stalls in the street while wearing costume the idea never took off. Children may be happier to dress up and a parade of such children or a display on the back of a lorry such as in a carnival might inspire others to do the same.

The choice is yours. As is often the case you trade publicity with more work in the hope of a better atmosphere and more profits. For what it's worth, in our case we realise that we are mainly men organising these events and that women who have volunteered to help us have shown they are very much better than us at raising volunteers for serving food, inspiring children and running stalls. We all know our place and the team works well.