'Fair'well from The Hoppings for 2024

Europe's biggest travelling fair has now packed up and gone – but has left behind thousands of satisfied visitors and the promise to continue to introduce new elements in 2025.

The 142nd Hoppings ended its run at Newcastle Town Moor on Sunday (30 June) and organisers have revealed that there were hundreds of thousands of visitors across its ten day run.

And they have also pledged that new elements which took place this year – which included an art competition where the winning entries were displayed on banners and a special free event for North East charities – will return in the future.

New rides including the largest big wheel in Europe and white knuckle thriller, XXL, brought people in their droves to what is one of the biggest events on the regional calendar.

Ryan Crow of Crow Events which organises The Hoppings said it had been a really busy year.

“We’re delighted with the response we’ve had and also how well received the art competition and the charity day was,” he said.

“Although The Hoppings is only here for a short time, it is a huge part of the local community which is why we have started to introduce new ways of the community becoming part of it.

“For the first time we had lots of North East charities including St Oswald’s Hospice and the NSPCC, along on the first morning so that they could enjoy the rides and attractions as our guests.

“We also had lots of young people taking part in our art competition and this is something that we’d like to see grow in future years.”

The Hoppings has also become a showcase for local talent, with a whole programme of live music which gives up-and-coming regional performers the opportunity to play in front of a large audience.

“We’ve also had some amazing musicians playing and again, this is something that we will definitely be revisiting when we start planning next year’s event,” said Ryan.

The organiser also praised the showmen who helped protect the Town Moor by putting boards under every single piece of equipment on site.

“This year was always going to be a challenge because the ground was so soft because of the previous bad weather and that was why the site was slightly smaller,” said Ryan.

“Putting boards under thousands of tons of heavy equipment was a massive and difficult undertaking but everyone took it on themselves to do it, which means that very little damage has been caused to the land itself.

“The Town Moor has been home to The Hoppings so it’s important to us that it is treated with respect, which is why everyone did everything they could to protect it.

“The good news however is the fact that we were a slightly smaller site didn’t deter any of our visitors – and we will be back at full size in 2025.”