Dehradun: Uttarakhand’s historic Gauchar Fair has begun. CM Dhami inaugurated the Chamoli Gauchar Fair today. The Gauchar Fair will run for seven days. Cultural programs and sports competitions will be held during these seven days. During the fair, special beautification of the Gauchar market and area, parking, transportation, cleanliness, and security arrangements have been made.
It should be noted that the Gauchar Fair has been held for a long time. It was once considered the largest fair in Uttarakhand. Along with cultural programs, sports competitions were also held here. Artists and athletes from Uttarakhand and various states across the country would come to Gauchar to participate in these competitions. Additionally, the agricultural fair here was also famous throughout the country. Visitors were astonished by the length of the gourds and radishes brought to the fair in years past. The Gauchar Fair is known as a historic trade fair, where people from all over the district participate enthusiastically.
The Gauchar Fair originated on the initiative of the Bhotia tribe in Pithoragarh and Chamoli, two districts bordering Tibet. The Gauchar Fair was a market for daily necessities in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, and this market gradually transformed into a fair.
Late Bal Singh Pal, Pan Singh Bampal, and Govind Singh Rana, prominent traders and conscious public representatives from the tribal region of the Niti Mana Valley in Chamoli district, proposed the idea of organizing a similar trade fair in Chamoli district to the late Govind Singh Notiyal, a renowned journalist and social activist. Following the suggestion of the then Deputy Commissioner of Garhwal, the Gauchar Fair was established in 1943. Later, the Gauchar Fair gradually took on an industrial and cultural dimension.
