Festival organisers have spoken of their disappointment after a popular Christmas market was rained off.
Despite near-freezing, horizontal rain, hardy shoppers brought a healthy attendance to Brighouse centre for the town’s Victorian Christmas Market yesterday.
But the Victorian-themed market, featuring sellers in 19th century dress, was cancelled this morning after gales of up to 50mph were forecast.
Steven Lord, of Brighouse Business Initiative which organised the fair, said: “It’s very disappointing.
“But we’ve got stalls under canvas and they act like parachutes in the high wind – one of them flying down the street could cause havoc.
“We got away with it yesterday and we had a lot people. The Brighouse community comes out in force despite the weather.”
Mr Lord added: “We didn’t take the decision lightly and we waited until the last minute to cancel it.
“We will have the fair again next year but we’ll have to look at insurance costs.”
Those that braved the Saturday weather browsed stalls selling traditional Christmas gifts and food while other enjoyed horse-drawn carriage and fairground rides.
At the more exotic end of the scale, the fair featured food from Mexico, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean as well as a visit from some camels.
School children and brass bands also performed festive tunes, narrowly avoiding the downpour on a covered stage outside The George pub, on Bradford Road.
And for all the soaked shoes and inside-out umbrellas those, including the Lord family, seemed to be having a good time.
Sarah, Robert and their son Rafferty, five, had come to watch Rafferty’s school, St Andrew’s Infant School, Brighouse, perform a Christmas carol concert in Victorian garb.
Sarah, from Brighouse, said: “We didn’t quite expect the weather to be this bad. Some of the stalls have had to close up but it’s still been a good show.
“I really liked seeing the camels at the bus station – though they didn’t look like they were enjoying themselves!”
Regular stall holders at the fair included Brighouse and District Lions who manned a charity gift stall and a hotdog van.
Lions volunteers Anne O’Connor and Pamela Fellows, who were looking after the gift stall, said the weather was the worst in the years they had been attending the fair.
Anne said: “To be honest we’ve struggled but thankfully, we’ve got hot dogs for sale next door so there’s a roaring trade there.
“In the years it’s been running this is the worst weather I’ve known but the people are out – I’m quite surprised. They’re all on a mission walking about.”
Pamela added the Lions would be out no matter what the weather was.
She said: “As long as it’s going on we’ll be out. A lot of effort goes into putting the fair on.”
