Summer Fete Checklist: How to Organise a Successful Community Event

Village fetes look effortless from the other side of the tombola table. Someone booked the field, twisted forty arms for cakes, counted the change and worked out how to stop a gazebo taking off in a stiff breeze. If that someone is you this summer, take heart: a good fete is mostly lists and timing, done early. Get the groundwork right and the day runs itself, leaving you free to chat to neighbours rather than hunt for a second extension lead.

Set the Date, Site and Permissions Early

Check the local calendar before you commit to anything. Clashing with the school summer fair or a neighbouring village's fete halves your footfall and splits your volunteers. The parish council usually knows what else is on.

Then sort the site. A recreation ground is booked through the parish or district council; a farmer's field needs a written agreement, even if you have used it for years. Ask about access, parking, power, water and whether you can put stakes in the ground.

Ask the council, in writing, about the things nobody remembers until the week before:

• Do we need a Temporary Event Notice for alcohol, amplified music or entertainment running into the evening?
• Do they want public liability insurance, and at what level?
• Is there a booking fee, bond or deposit?
• Are there limits on vehicles, generators or inflatables on the grass?
• Who locks up, and where do the bins go?

Food, drink and music come with their own rules. Anyone supplying food should speak to the council's environmental health team, and raffles, tombolas and music licences carry conditions that depend on size and ticket price. Licensing, insurance and food safety deserve a proper conversation with the council and a qualified adviser rather than guesswork from a forum thread.

Build a Stall Line-Up That Draws a Crowd

A fete works best when there is plenty that is free or cheap for families, plus a handful of things worth spending on. Two cake stalls opposite each other will split the takings; a cake stall, a plant stall and a barbecue each pull a different crowd.

What tends to do well: books, bric-a-brac, a well-stocked tombola, crafts, face painting, hook-a-duck, a coconut shy, a tea and cake tent, and something silly with a prize — welly wanging, a dog show, or a competition judged by the vicar.

Invite outside traders early. Ice cream vans, coffee carts and mobile caterers often pay for a pitch and turn up with their own insurance. Charge a modest pitch fee, ask for a copy of their insurance, and confirm arrival times so the site does not become a traffic jam at eleven o'clock.

Recruit Volunteers Properly

Most people say yes if you ask for something specific. "Could you run the raffle from two until four?" beats "Can you help on the day?"

1. Name one person per stall and give them a two-hour shift, not the whole afternoon.
2. Keep two or three floating volunteers free for loo breaks, change runs and small emergencies.
3. Publish the rota a fortnight ahead and send a reminder the night before.
4. Feed and water your helpers: a sandwich and a cold drink buy a lot of goodwill.
5. Put someone sensible on the gate and someone else on the car park. Those two jobs set the tone for everything after.

Share contact numbers with everyone on the rota, and note who has keys, a van, a card reader or a first aid certificate.

Risk Assessments and Safety Without the Panic

Write down what could go wrong and what you will do about it. Walk the site two days beforehand with a clipboard. Guy ropes and cables need taping down or routing away from walkways. Vehicles and pedestrians need separate routes. Boiling urns, hot griddles and glass belong well away from the children's games.

Plan for the small things too. Shade, water and sun cream for volunteers on a hot afternoon. A lost child point at the main gate, with a script everyone knows. A first aider and a stocked kit. One decision-maker with the authority to close the bouncy castle or shut the field if the weather turns.

If it is not written down, it did not happen — and next year's committee will thank you for the notes.

Check insurance early. Most venues, and many stallholders, will ask for evidence of public liability cover, and some policies exclude inflatables or stalls selling alcohol. If you are unsure, take advice from your insurer or a qualified broker before the posters go up.

Publicity That Fills the Field

Start six weeks out. A printed poster in the right windows — shop, library, church, vet, school gate, bus shelter — still works, especially with a short web address on it. Add a Facebook event, a note in the parish newsletter and posts in local community groups, including our own listings.

Say what people actually need to know: date, start and finish times, entry price, address, parking, whether dogs are welcome, and whether stallholders take cash or card. Mention the wet-weather plan if there is one. Send the poster to your stallholders and ask them to share it; they have their own audiences.

Put up direction signs on the day, from the main road to the gate. People give up quickly when they cannot find a field.

The Week Before and the Morning Of

Confirm every stallholder, supplier and volunteer in writing. Collect insurance certificates, risk assessments and food hygiene paperwork where they apply. Borrow tables, chairs, gazebos, extension leads, bin bags and a cash float in a mix of denominations. Print a site plan and a running order, then share a final version with the marshal team.

On the day, set up at least two hours before you open. Brief helpers on the fire point, the first aid point, the lost child procedure and who is in charge. Book stallholders in as they arrive, check gazebos are weighted, and have somebody on the gate ten minutes before the advertised start.

Afterwards, Count, Thank and Take Notes

Count the takings with two people present, log the expenses and pay suppliers and pitch holders promptly. Thank everyone by name — in the parish newsletter, on local pages and at the next committee meeting — and explain where the money went.

Then write the notes: what sold, what did not, which forms the council asked for, who owns the gazebos. A shared folder of last year's paperwork is the single most useful thing you can leave the next committee.

Nothing here replaces proper advice on licensing, insurance or food safety, so speak to your council and a qualified professional where those apply.

Photo: Ron Lach / Pexels