Reflecting on yet another successful Victorian Fayre in Otley, it is easy to assume that the annual event has been entertaining townsfolk and visitors alike since...well, Victorian times.

But the reality is much more hard-nosed than that. The fayre was actually dreamt up by the Otley and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce in the 1980s as an astute way of boosting pre-Christmas trade in the town.

Their masterstroke, as 24 successful fayres have now shown, was to decide on making a celebration of Otley’s Victorian past the theme of the day.

Because the Victorian era, with its links to Dickens, gas lamps, cobbled streets and truly wintry weather, is bound tightly to popular – and in these increasingly commercial times, more innocent – notions of what Christmas should be.

Indeed, before Queen Victoria’s long reign, which started in 1837, no one in Britain had even heard of Christmas cards, crackers or Santa Claus himself.

Now around Otley, as Victorian Fayre committee member Sara Quinn notes, for many people the festive period officially “begins” on the second Friday of December.

“So many people have said to me that they don’t feel Christmassy until the Victorian Fayre, it seems to mark the start of it all,” she said.

She is also keen to stress the educational value of the event. She said: “Some of the schools really embrace the Victorian aspect of the day and as well as having their children dress up in period costume and singing carols, hold projects on Victorian times to tie in with it. That’s another example of the important role the fayre plays in the community.”

The organisers are hailing last Friday’s fayre – which featured reindeer, dozens of festive stalls, fairground attractions and, of course, many people dressed to look as if they had just stepped out of A Christmas Carol – as perhaps the busiest in the event’s 24-year history. Thousands of people turned out and more than 900 programmes were sold.

Fayre committee chairman Steph Lee said: “I’m absolutely delighted with it, the weather had a lot to do with it being so busy because, unlike last year, it wasn’t raining!

“The police reckon it was the biggest we’ve had in many years which is great, it makes all the hard work worthwhile. We’ll be putting our thinking caps on again early next year to come up with ways of making the next fayre, which will be our 25th, even better.”

Sara, one of a handful of new recruits who volunteered to help this year, said: “It was really good, we think we had the biggest crowd yet and the weather was a big help because even though it was quite cold it was dry.

“Last year we were hit really badly by torrential rain so we were relieved not to see a repeat of that. It was really, really busy and there were some times, especially around 7pm, when you could hardly move on the street. People seem to really like the Victorian theme, which we are keen to expand on, and although we are still counting the programme sales we have definitely sold more than 900 this time, compared to 580 last year.

“We also enjoyed some really good support from the police in keeping everything going smoothly. Disappointingly, we had trouble with some groups of kids throwing stink bombs and caps and had to ask the police to move them on.

“But hopefully they will now realise that there’s no need for that, since the fayre is is a family affair where people just want to enjoy themselves.”

Started in 1985 the fayre quickly became so popular that just two years later the chamber handed it over to an independent organising committee.

As well as its role in helping trade in the town, the event has raised thousands of pounds for a variety of good causes over the years, with Henshaws Society for Blind People benefiting this time.

Longstanding Otley Chamber member and confectioner Trevor Backhouse, who runs Patisserie Viennoise on Westgate, said: “I’m very pleased that the fayre has progressed, it’s something that the chamber kicked off back in 1985 when the object of it was to boost the Christmas sales in the shops.

“But then it became so big that after two years the chamber set up a separate committee so they could deal with it themselves, and it has been a success every year. Some shops do better than others on the day but it’s also a great day out and it raises a good deal of money for charity, which is the most important thing.

“And I’m a big believer that the thousands of people who come to the town for each fayre, even if they don’t all buy things from the shops at the time, will remember that there’s a good carpet, furniture, jewellery or clothes shop here, for example, and they might come back.”

Tobacconist James Barber, delighted at the brisk trade his shop on Westgate enjoyed on the day, was – along with his wife, Angela – part of the committee that organised the very first fayre.

He said: “This year’s fayre was excellent, we were very busy and did more business than last year, I think the dry weather was in our favour and a lot of outsiders were attracted into the town.

“There were six of us on the original committee back in 1985, and I remember thinking on the very first one that we did that it would be ‘okay’. But thousands of people came to town and it just took off from day one.

“The thing that always stands out from the first one is that we decided to finish it off with carols around the Jubilee Clock and Otley Brass Band, I think, had just started up a tune when the first snowflakes of the year began to fall, which was perfect.

“I don’t think as many of the public are dressing up in Victorian costume now as they did, so it would be nice for next year’s 25th anniversary if we could get more people to dress up.

“I think the fayre’s got a very bright future, it’s one of the main events in the Otley calendar and, for the town centre itself, it’s got to be the event of the year.”

Sara Quinn, meanwhile, is already looking ahead to marking the event’s 25th anniversary in style next December. She said: “Next year is a really big year for us and we just want all the traders to get behind it as some aren’t as supportive as they could be. It would be great if everyone could push the boat out for our silver anniversary.

“The committee is going to work to make it a really special year and bigger than ever before, with a few surprises.

“We have 11 months to prepare but there’s a lot to do – we’d like to include a lot more traditional elements and work on some issues such as parking, and the effect road closures can have on people. We’ll work with the police to see if we can improve on those.

“One thing we will need help with is on finding a replacement for our secretary, Vanessa James, who is standing down. So we’re appealing for someone to come onto the committee and take on this very important role.”

Anyone who can help the committee should contact Steph Lee on 01943 461115, e-mail steph.lee7@talktalk.net.