Links Market: scream if you wanna go faster at Kirkcaldy's historic funfair

For six days tens of thousands of people will flock to the rides and stalls

The Links Market is Europe's longest street fair and the oldest in Scotland. It is part of the fabric of Kirkcaldy’s Spring, can pull in crowds that can surpass those which went to T In The Park, but it is almost almost unheard of beyond the Lang Toun.

Organised by the Showmen’s Guild of Scotland, it marks the start of their summer season, and has done for eight centuries.

It has evolved from a farmers’ and traders’ market to the ‘scream if you wanna go faster’ funfair that brings a thrilling spectacle of noise, colour and candy floss to the Esplanade for six days, and tens of thousands of people will flock to the rides and stalls every hour of each day.

Kirkcaldy Links Market has been an annual event for eight centuries. Picture: Scott Louden

As tradition dictates it is formally opened by Fife’s civic heads at 2:00pm on Wednesday, April 17 before the first waltzers start to spin and the first dodgems are kick-started.

The Links Market has everything from white knuckle rides – which send you soaring high above the houses on the Esplanade – to teacup rides, a traditional carousel and bingo, as well as many arcades packed with games from across the ages.

Some go for a wander along and simply enjoy the spectacle, while others spend a small fortune going on all the rides. Take notes and coins – cash is king!

The market is simply part of Kirkcaldy’s DNA - no frills, just fun, and as much candy floss as you can consume in between rides.

As late as the 1980s it still hosted a freak show where you could shake the hands of a giant, a midget and say hello to a bearded lady who stood in their small stalls, and before that it offered bare knuckle boxing with an open invite to step into the ring.

They have long since gone, along with donkey rides on the Prom, and the traders whose brilliant sales patter saw you go home with a pack of towels for a bargain price. Today’s market has contracted, but it endures. Not even lockdown could diminish the sparkle of its lights which, on a clear night, can be seen across the town, and it continues to defy local ambivalence in some quarters.

The cry of “scream of you wanna go faster!” is still a siren call to young, and not so young, every April – even if the weather can be baltic, so if you are planning a visit, wrap up. We don’t call it ‘Links Market weather’ for nothing.

Allan Crow is Editor of the Fife Free Press, sister paper of The Scotsman