Thought everyone might like to know that Donnybrook Fair still happens - in a little community in southwestern Ontario. It is run by the Charlotteville Agricultural Society in Walsh, Ontario, Canada (near Simcoe). The 2007 dates are September 23 and 24. This fair is a wonderful community activity, but the excitement runs to demolition derbies and baby shows rather than the brawls that made the original Donnybrook Fair famous!
the excitement runs to demolition derbies and baby shows rather than the brawls Well, that's good to know! Welcome, Nancy M. :-)
according to
Wikipedia, "The fair was discontinued due to lack of popularity and funds." ca. 2001.
-joe (no fair) fridayedit: added link
I've been waiting for years for Donnybrook to show up in AWAD, because I grew up in that Dublin suburb -- a much more sedate place in the late 20th Century than when the infamous Fair was in its heyday. Like most Irish place-names, Donnybrook is an Anglicized version of its Irish name, Domhnach Broc (pronounced DHOW-nakh BRUK), meaning Broc's Chapel. Broc was, presumably, one of Ireland's innumerable Saints, another Irish phenomenon that -- like Donnybrook Fair -- belongs in the past.
In St Louis, there is a weekly show on the local PBS channel called Donnybrook, featuring four people of contrasting views who take up topics political and cultural. Sometimes it's a civil discussion, sometimes a donnybrook.