Cardigan's historic Barley Saturday showpiece event returns on April 30

A stallion show will be held on Cardigan Secondary School Field from 11.30am, with the parade of stallions through the town at 2pm.

The event, which was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic, traditionally draws hundreds of people to Cardigan, and is seen as one of the highlights of the Ceredigion calendar.

"Barley Saturday stallion show and parade will be going ahead on April 30, subject to COVID-19 restrictions," it was announced.

It is believed Barley Saturday has its origins in the middle of the 19th century and served as a half-yearly hiring fair of farm servants.

It celebrated the end of the sowing season, with barley being the final cereal sown, and has been traditionally held on the last Saturday in April.

The event was disbanded during World War Two , but in 1961 a group of town business people decided to resurrect the event.

Barley Saturday saw farmers from surrounding area come to town to hire workers and to inspect stallions that are put out to stud.

These days the horses are the centre of attention, and after the judging of the horse competitions, crowds gather to watch the horses parade through the town.

The horses are followed by of vintage cars, motorbikes, tractors, carriages, milk floats and gypsy wagons.

Local county councillor Clive Davies welcomed the news, saying: "Good news to hear that plans are being put into place for this event.

"Hopefully it is now back on the annual Cardigan calendar."

A full schedule of this year's even can be found on the Barley Saturday Facebook page HERE