ORGANISERS are ‘working tirelessly’ to find a way of bringing the Great Dorset Steam Fair (GDSF) back in 2024.

The 2023 event was cancelled, with the event’s board citing ‘significant and spiralling increases’ in costs.

But now, organisers of the fair, traditionally held across the August bank Holiday at Tarrant Hinton, have said they are hoping to bring it back next summer.

GDSF managing director, Martin Oliver, said: “We are very much aware that there has been a great deal of speculation over the past few weeks and months as to whether the Great Dorset Steam Fair will return in 2024.

“We would like to reassure you that we have been working tirelessly towards finding a way of safeguarding our great show for the future and are looking at all and every available option in the detail required.

READ MORE: Shock as 2023 Great Dorset Steam Fair cancelled

“At this point we cannot give any firm confirmation but would ask that you all please retain the dates of next year’s GDSF event in your diary (Thursday, August 22 to Bank Holiday Monday, August 26, 2024) until we are able to come back to you in a few weeks’ time with a further update.

“Many thanks for your patience and kind words of support this past year, it is very much appreciated.”

The shock cancellation of the 2023 fair was was announced in October last year, with the board saying it was an ‘extremely difficult decision’.

“While the 2022 event has been a fantastic and resounding success as a spectacle, it has been mired by significant and spiralling increases in contractor and infrastructure costs and the costs associated with meeting the necessary regulatory and statutory compliance which are commensurate with operating such a large-scale event,” they said.

“In short, as a big show we have big costs, costs which have risen disproportionately this year and, crucially, are very difficult to forecast for next year in the current economic climate.”