Date: 14 to 27 Nov 2018
Venue: Pragati Maidan

Trade Fair 2018 has evoked a lot of curiosity. Given that most of Pragati Maidan is under renovation, the fair was 1/4th the original size. In fact the organisers had been very strict during stall booking for Trade Fair. Given the limited space, in view of safety issues, perhaps fewer tickets are allotted for visitors too. Trade Fair tickets on BookMyShow for weekend was exhausted way ahead of time. We tried a couple of metro stations too last Saturday, but all tickets were sold by 10.30 am!

After weekend disappointment of no tickets, we had bought online tickets for Trade Fair for today. And we finally made it to Trade Fair 2018. There were only a handful of halls and hangars that were hosting the stalls. All the erstwhile state pavilions were stuffed in one hall and we missed the beautiful gates and displays of Rajasthan, Goa, Orissa and the quintessential Durga idol and baul statues decorating the Bengal stalls. Trade Fair is one event that fuses craft and trade and there was still a smaller yet quality collection of handicrafts and handloom in the state stalls, Khadi and Saras pavillions. The consumer goods stall had been housed in the hall that also had international participation on one side. Given the space constraint, we missed many FMCG brands, like Leonardo Olive Oil that we see every year.

Trade Fair hosts cultural performances every evening. Hanswadhani Theatre is still intact and state-wise cultural performances were being held here. We also saw a random Chhatisgarhi folk dance in the state pavillion. Many visitors enthusiastically danced to the drum-beats and some joined the dancers.

Truth be told, Trade Fair this year lacked grandeur. Nonetheless it was still very engaging and given that today was a working day, the footfall was impressive. While Trade Fair 2018 drops the curtains tomorrow, Delhi would wait with excitement to see what Trade Fair 2019 has to offer. Fingers crossed.