THOUSANDS of people flocked to Great Harwood at the weekend to enjoy the combined Charter Fair and Summer Sizzler festival.
The historic fair, which dates back to the 1300s when the privilege to hold it was granted to Adam Nowell as a reward from King Edward III, only takes place when 21 August falls on a Sunday.
But the Crying of the Fair is always held on 21 August every year.
This year the fair, organised by Great Harwood Civic Society, was combined with the town's second Summer Sizzler festival.
And it proved to be a huge success with more than 5,000 people attending.
The day kicked off with a colourful parade from Great Harwood Fire Station, which wound its way through the streets into the town centre where there was plenty of entertainment on offer, with a huge stage hosting a number of acts and more than 50 stalls run by charities and local organisations as well as businesses.
There was bric-a-brac and a tombola and NHS representatives ran a stall offering advice on testicular cancer and doing haemoglobin checks.
Great Harwood's Community Beat Managers PC Ian Durber and PC Helen Jackson donned period police costumes for the parade, which involved children, who designed their own historic costumes and even made a chariot during a series of summer workshops, and representatives from community groups.
There was live music, morris dancers, ju-jitsu displays, fairground rides, a climbing wall and a series of workshops.
Jean Shears, of Great Harwood Civic Society, hailed the event as a huge success. She said: "It was absolutely fabulous. It was a nice family day with a carnival atmosphere and we were blessed with the weather. It was really good.
"The civic society would like to thank everybody who helped in any way. A lot of people worked very hard for a long time on this."
PC Jackson described the event as "brilliant" and said that it brought together people from all parts of the community.
