Final curtain call for Glebe Fair organiser

Marking its 26th birthday this year, the Glebe Street Fair is definitely well past the legal drinking age. Which is just as well for its long-serving organiser, Judy McCumstie. Or should that be long-suffering?

“It’s true, there’s a strong masochistic element in all this,” she laughs. “It’s never the same from one year to the next – just when you think you’re on top of it, something else changes!”

Ms McCumstie will clock up her twelfth and final Fair in charge on Sunday, but the enthusiasm for the event she helped define retains as strong as ever. Run on a non-profit basis, with proceeds donated to local projects, the Glebe Street Fair is one of Sydney’s longest-running annual street events, originally growing from humble origins as the Glebe Food Fair. Today, staging the Fair involves closing Glebe Point Road for a kilometre – a far cry from those early days.

“It began at a time when I think there was only one other festival happening in Sydney – the Queens Street Fair,” Ms McCumstie said. “I think one of the reasons it’s been successful is that it’s not a synthetic event that’s been imposed on Glebe – it’s one that’s grown out of the suburb organically.”

After last year’s ‘circus’ theme, 2009 sees the Fair adopt Broadway as its inspiration. Although finding the next Liza Minelli or Fred Astaire is not necessarily the priority, Ms McCumstie emphasises the community element – “everyone knows the old songs and can sing along.” For those who prefer to let others have the fun, there will also be dancers, street performers and magicians to liven up the day, while kids have on offer a baby animal farm, a story teller, and face painters.

Well-known Sydney identities, including Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and the boys from the Chaser, will also drop in to offer their perspectives on life, the universe and everything to the expected 100,000-strong crowd.

The Glebe Street Fair is on this Sunday, November 15, between 10am and 5pm. As ever, the activities on offer will include over 200 stalls, plus an array of food, kids’ rides, and as Ms McCumstie puts it, “the opportunity to do all your Christmas shopping in one place!”

And what of the McCumstie legacy? As yet, there’s no word on Judy’s replacement – but son David, who helps organise the Glebe Markets, is taking over management of the stalls this year, “so there’s that element of continuity at least!”