by Ashley Halligan

Created on: August 14, 2009

The Hyde Park Fair is an event in Boise, Idaho's North End neighborhood, held annually in the area's Camel's Back Park. The event raises awareness and benefits the historic neighborhood's North End Neighborhood Association (NENA), focusing on the area's history, quaintness and charm, and focuses on its restoration and revitalization efforts .

The Hyde Park Fair is not a conventional fair featuring ferris wheels and carnival food, rather a more sophisticated event, featuring live music all weekend, a wine garden, craft beers, artisan and craftsmen displays, eclectic food and information booths. Tucked away in the City of Trees, this fair is frequented by both regional visitors, and in recent years, visitors from all across the country and the world.

The fair began in 1979 in Hyde Park as a social event for local artists and crafts-people. Within a few years it grew exponentially, requiring additional space, which is when the event was moved to Camel's Back Park in the mid-80s. In recent years, it has attracted more than 30 thousand participants.

Because Boise is renown for being a city of festivals, the Hyde Park Fair is just one of many but maintains its unique presence because of its artistic vibe, local cuisine, talented musical line-ups, and its positive impact on the preservation of the very neighborhood it celebrates. Always falling on the second weekend of September, it's also a great celebration for one of the last formal weekends of summer.

With numerous local businesses within the festival's region, many are drawn to sample the neighborhood's fare and explore the specialty shops and antique stores that season its streets, all meandering through the fair's events with the backdrop of live music on two different stages.

Emphasizing local businesses, the event impacts the neighborhood both economically as well as enhancing awareness of the small businesses that reside here. Everything from trendy salons, cycle shops, small book stores, art galleries and antique shops, neighboring cozy local restaurants are nestled along these streets and benefit immensely from the exposure allowing the organizations to continue its efforts through the profit's the fair brings to its hands.

Because of its unique approach to raising awareness while providing an interesting and eccentric platform for simultaneously providing entertainment, local fare and talented artisans, the Hyde Park Fair will only continue to thrive, competing with larger city-wide events in cities such as Spokane. With an array of local businesses, all providing specials to visitors during the event weekend, and many events, the fair is a unique way to spend a weekend, whether by a local native or a visitor of Boise.

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