Heritage On August 21 and 22, a sound and light show evoked the Magdalen Fair. It was about time that this large market, which has made Beaucaire famous for centuries, found its place in the celebrations of this summer period. But the spectacle can only make you regret the time when this event provided the Beaucairois community with an enviable source of income. Because, let us not forget, the fair was, above all, a market on a European scale. How could we have lost this jackpot? Three main reasons can explain it: the abolition of tax privileges during the Revolution, new commercial trends (sales by representative and mail order) and the development of means of transport (railroad) in the 19th century. Since that time, none of the successive municipalities has been able to restore the city to its status as a hub of European commerce. Attempts to create an exhibition fair in the late 1920s (photo) were unsuccessful. In the 1950s, a Beaucairois even proposed to transform the fair into a permanent amusement park, which involved the reconstruction of the merchants’ cabins in a fenced part of the fairground with paid entry, actual sale of current goods by costumed vendors. 18th century and even change of currency inside the enclosure. The suggestion was not followed up … The end of the Beaucaire fair was inevitable.
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