Alnwick Fair is an annual costumed event held every June since 1971 in the market town of Alnwick, Northumberland, England. Opinions vary about whether the fair is intended as a recreation of a medieval trading fair, or of a 17th Century agricultural fair, but at any rate historical verisimilitude usually takes second place to a sense of fun and a celebration of local heritage in general. The week-long event opens on Fair Sunday with a costumed parade involving every local club and organisation that cares to join, and continues through the week, during which all locals and shopkeepers are encouraged to dress in period costume, and the town's numerous hostelries lay on entertainment that usually takes the form of folk music and/or games involving lots of drinking.