Are game fairs wor

In the age of ubiquitous internet retail, what magic does the summer game fair still hold for those of a rural inclination, asks Felix Petit

-  Felix Petit

In a sense, what’s the point? Why go to a game fair? Why go to considerable effort to be hot and tired and end up spending more on the latest carbon fibre fishing reel than you spent on your car? You can get nearly everything from infrared scopes to wood-fired hot tubs at a better price online or elsewhere, but there’s more to it. The Scottish Game Fair in 2022 attracted over 32,000 people so this is no village fete; something draws them in. It might seem a world away from Glastonbury, but surely there is something similar; a sense of familiarity, intimacy and that intangible sense of togetherness?

It’s not about consumerism or nostalgia, although these are certainly factors. Whether you are an urbanite with rural tendencies or a professional stalker; like Cure Salée, the yearly Saharan ‘Festival of the Nomads’, this is a chance for a short time to plug in and feel connected to a normally dispersed but passionate community. To see and be seen, to reconnect with old friends, to share stories and news with new ones.

Allan Farquharson, a keeper I met from the west coast, said coming to the Game Fair helped him feel “part of a way of life”.

Cultural touchstones

I was selling subscriptions from the