The Riot at the Fair, held on September 3rd, 2018 in Bonn Square, Oxford, celebrated Otmoor and Oxfordshire and brought the projected road and house-building to the attention of the crowds attending the city's traditional St. Giles Fair being held during the first week of September.  It featured an authentic traditional Oxfordshire Waggon of the type used to transport the Rioters through the St. Giles Fair of 1830 on their way to Oxford Gaol.  There were rioters, soldiers, live music and Morris Dancers, information about the Expressway plans and its effects, other displays, and an opportunity to sign protest petitions.

A legend emerged that the people of Otmoor had webbed feet (presumably because it would make it easier for them to walk in the flooded marshes).  The Rev EHW Crusha wrote to a Miss Eltenton that he was furious about this: "It is commonly said that 'Otmoor goslings (or rather, Otmoor GOLLINS) have webbed feet.' It is as old as the memories of surviving old people. I have myself no doubt that it originated as a kind of insult which foreigners' used towards Otmoor men."

Riot at the Fair