What is Strawberry Fair?
Strawberry Fair is one of England’s last remaining free festivals. It lasts for one day-the first Saturday in June-and is entirely volunteer run. The festival is anti-corporate, anti-sponsorship and is run on a not-for-profit basis. It’s a great example of what a community can do when it works together. There are live bands, bars, a kid’s field, an arts area, a film festival, a green area, and all manner of other entertainments, all of which are free. Alongside this, and providing the bedrock of the event, is a marketplace of stalls selling a wide variety of goods, without which the fair could not happen.

Why should I trade at the fair?
Somewhere between 10,000-15,000 people are expected be on site at any one time, though the free nature of the event means that up to 30,000 people can pass through the site on the day. The event is a regular fixture in the Cambridgeshire calendar, and people make their way back to Cambridge to specifically to come to Strawberry Fair. It has been running since 1974 and has a loyal following, which grows every year. It therefore provides an excellent opportunity to showcase your business or charity to a large market right at the heart of Cambridge. Some people visit the fair simply to see the stalls. As well as this, the fair gets most of its funding from the stalls, so by trading on the day you are helping to keep Cambridgeshire’s biggest free arts event going for another year.

How much will it cost to have a pitch?
The price of your pitch is worked out by what you sell and how much space your stall takes up. Give us this information and we’ll get back to you with a price. As a general guide, we sell stall space according to these categories, ranging from the cheapest to the highest cost: Craft Stall, Mobile Seller’s License, Charity Stall, Non-Food Stall, Snack Stall, and Food Concession.

How do I pay?
Strawberry Fair accepts cheques, made payable to Strawberry Fair. These should be sent to Strawberry Fair, PO Box 104 Cambridge, CB2 1WZ.

Do you provide any infrastructure?
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the event, all stall holders will need to bring with them the necessary items to trade. We cannot provide electricity, tables or chairs or anything else of this sort. There are, however, water taps on the common and we will have skips for waste disposal.

Are any items or services prohibited?
There are a small number of things which you will not be permitted to sell at the fair. These include:

Alcohol (including from tombolas)
Nitrous Oxide products
Permanent tattoos
Herbal Highs

Is there anything I need to provide you with to qualify to trade?
If you do not sell food, we do not expect very much from you. It is helpful if you have public and employee liability insurance, that any equipment you use has been electrically tested, and that you have certificates to that effect. However, we trust you to be on the ball and have these things in place. It is, though, a legal obligation for you to provide us with information of any risks that may be associated with your stall, and we will need you to complete a risk assessment form before you come on to site. We have a standard form available which you can download here. If you are using this form, it is our advice that most dangers listed on our form are probably present on your stall, and that you will seek to mitigate them through the methods provided.

If you are a food trader, then things are a little stricter. We will be in dialogue with Cambridge City Environmental Health from the moment we accept the first food vendor’s application. For this reason, we expect you to be currently registered with a local authority and to have been inspected within the past year (If you are a new business, we need to know that your registration is pending and that you will be inspected by an Environmental Health Officer in the near future. Prior to the event we expect your paper work to be exemplary and we will make our own inspections of your operation). In addition to this, you will need to share information with us, providing the details of where the food you are selling has come from, the levels of hygiene training your food handlers have achieved, and general details about the way your concession operates. We also require you to have public and employers liability insurance, and that your equipment is portable appliance tested, or you have Corgi Certificates as appropriate. It is also a legal requirement for you to provide us with information of any risks that may be associated with your stall, and we will need you to complete a risk assessment form before you come on to site. We have a standard form available which you can download here. It is our advice that most dangers listed on our form are possibly present on your stall, and that you will seek to mitigate them through the methods provided.

I represent a charity; can I use Strawberry Fair to raise money?
Raising money at the fair is fine. However, it should not be done in a forceful manner. If you have booked a stall space, please do not leave that space to collect bank details or to shake your collecting tin.

If you are planning to sell any goods in aid of your charity, please let us know. If these are food items, they should all be pre-packaged and clearly labelled with the ingredients in order of amounts, greatest to lowest and with any information relevant to allergy sufferers. Please complete our food safety questionnaire. You should also contact Cambridge City Council Environmental Health, to ensure they are aware of your activities.

Do I need to order staff tickets?
Strawberry Fair is a free festival and for that reason, there are no tickets of any sort. Camping for staff members is allowed on the common prior to the event; though please do not bring any hangers on. There is no public camping at the event.

Am I allowed to bring vehicles on to site?
Charity Stall, Food/Snack Food and Consumer Goods Concessions will be given one free vehicle pass. However, we need to keep the number of cars on site to a minimum, and therefore any further passes will be issued at a cost of £45 per vehicle. There is some parking available in Cambridge. However, we recommend you do not bring extra vehicles, unless you really have to. Craft Stalls and Mobile Seller’s Licenses are not entitled to a free vehicle pass.

Can I sell alcohol?
As noted above, you cannot sell alcohol. This is because of the conditions of our license. The right to run the beer tents is by contract and this is currently not up for tender.

Can I sell Ice Cream?
Strawberry Fair sells its ice cream provision to a single operator. If you would like to bid for this position please contact us well in advance of the event.

I’ve sent you an email/letter/left a message on your phone but haven’t received a reply, what should I do?
Please be patient. Strawberry Fair is staffed entirely by volunteers, most of whom have day jobs. We have to deal with a large number of stall holders, all of whom want a personal service. If we were paid to do this, that wouldn’t present a problem. However, in order to run the event we have to give up our lunch hours and evenings, and can only respond to you as and when we have the time. Emailing strawberry.traders@googlemail.com is your best bet for a speedy response. We try to operate a telephone line, but this is expensive, and we are most likely to use our personal phones to call you back if your query is serious enough. This is most likely to be outside of normal office hours. If you do get our telephone numbers, please do not call us whilst we are probably at work – we would like to keep our jobs, and run a successful event.

When can I set up my stall?
You will be able get on site from 12noon till 8pm on the Thursday, 8am till 8pm on Friday, and 8am till 11.30am on Saturday. Please do not turn up before 12noon on Thursday as we will still be setting up the site! Please note also that there are no vehicle movements on site between 11.45am and 11pm.

Can I reserve a pitch?
You can’t reserve a pitch. However, there should be enough space on the common to go around. We do have fairly historic areas for certain sorts of traders, with food traders often setting up along the path from the main gate to the river, and charities close to the Green Area. If you have been before, you will probably know where you prefer, if not, there will be a place for you.