Canterbury Fayre

Canterbury Fayre was Really a Church Bazaar

by Merewyn the Meke

Canterbury Fayre was really a Church’s Christmas fundraiser in Vancouver. John of Chilham attended St. James’ Church at Cordova and Gore and he got the people of Lions Gate to come in and help out.

The Fayre was a bit different from most Church bazaars because it had a theme. They had chosen the theme of a mediaeval fair, rather than just having a bunch of tables with crafts for people to check out. It was held in the basement of the church, which was made of cement or stone with arched pillars. Someone had taken the trouble to put up walls around a sort of courtyard with a low stage in the middle of the widest part. Each of the tables was behind a wall that was painted to look like a mediaeval building, with a large window strategically placed so that the table was accessible. Taped mediaeval music was playing in the background as long as the doors to the fayre were open to the public.

Lions Gate had a table where they made and sold Welsh cakes and Tinker’s cakes. I think they actually used it as a fundraiser, but I’m not sure if they donated whatever they made to the church or not. Other members of the populace volunteered as “local colour,” walking around in garb and improvising skits. There were some dark red tabards with the coat of arms of Canterbury painted on them and coifs made out of underwear fabric that had been spray painted silver that some people wore when they were depicting the town guard.

In 1979, St. James’ changed the theme of the bazaar and it became a Dickensian fair. We didn’t have eighteenth century garb in our closets, so we weren’t really able to continue to contribute as a group.

Here is a poster from one of the Canterbury Fayre by I believe John of Chilham:

Here is the coat of arms for the Fayre from a tabard the town's guards wore:

My First Experience at Canterbury Fayre

My Second Experience at Canterbury Fayre