Gibraltar’s popular fair will now start at 7pm

The Gibraltar Fair 2017 is in full swing every night on Queensway and will now start at 7pm instead of 7.30pm following the positive feedback in relation to the new “inclusive and sensory adaptations” at the fair and the easy access pass.

The Ministry for Equality says it has been delighted with the positive feedback that it has received in relation to this innovation and those who used the easy access pass over the weekend.

The Gibraltar Fair is held as part of the National Day celebrations and brings with it all the usual fairground attractions with events held every night at the Family Pavilion and the Youth Pavilion.

The Fair was officially opened on Saturday night by the Minister for Culture Steven Linares and Miss Gibraltar 2017 Jodie Garcia. They were then shown round the fair by Forti Azzopardi from the SDGG, and head of Gibraltar Cultural Services Yvette Zarb Bensusan and Events Manager Tanya Santini McClelland.

Once opened both Mr Linares and Miss Garcia got the chance to try out some of the rides as well as the bumper cars (as can be seen in the photograph).

CHANGE TO INCLUSIVE AND SENSORY ADAPTATION HOURS

There has been a change to ‘Inclusive and Sensory Adaptation Hours’ and the extension to ‘Easy Access Pass Applications’ with the fair now starting at 7pm.

The Ministry said yesterday that following some feedback there had needed to be some logistical changes and the end of the sensory adaptations would be brought forward from 9.30pm to 9pm.

The fair will therefore now start earlier at 7pm as opposed to 7.30pm so that anyone wanting to benefit from the sensory adaptations will still have the same amount of time available to them.

“These changes to the original time slot are mainly brought about by the daylight being affected by the overcast levanter cloud as this affects the natural light within the fair ground and the lights needs to be switched on earlier than envisaged,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry.

The two hour inclusive and sensory adaptation time slot will now be taking place between 7pm and 9pm. As under the previous arrangement, lights will be switched off and sound will be minimised during the first two hours.

These are expected to be particularly beneficial for people with autism, photosensitive epilepsy, visual impairments and hearing impairments.

The Ministry of Equality and the Ministry of Culture said it was grateful to the organisers of the fair, the SDGG for being able to act quickly and secure an earlier start so that people looking forward to the inclusive and sensory adaptation period still have two hours of enjoyment.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Equality would like to advise the public that due to continued requests for easy access passes it will once again extend the availability to apply until 11am this Friday 25 August.