Village Fair returning to Birmingham in 2026

By Grace Lovins

The annual Village Fair hosted by the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce is returning to Birmingham for spring 2026, after city commissioners approved the special event application during the Monday, October 27, meeting.

The fair next year will take place May 27 through May 31, in Shain Park.

Due to a multitude of police incidents that have taken place during fairs past, police chief Scott Grewe told commissioners there will be a system in place, similar to the 2025 fair, that will help to mitigate as many incidents as possible. Grewe said the staffing levels would remain the same as the 2025 fair with 17 officers on site during peak evening hours and officers will remain at the park after close to manage crowds.

Like the 2025 event, the fair will close at 9 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday night. Grewe said to help with crowd control, officers will allow the crowds to remain in the park but encourage them to go about their nights rather than forcing the crowds out of the park and into downtown Birmingham at closing time. He said this approach was used on Saturday night at the 2025 fair and proved to be effective.

To cover the staffing, Grewe said they are also adjusting the billing to the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce for their services. He explained that they are expanding the cost for billable hours for the first time to offset the cost to the city for the officers’ overtime hours during the event. The cost for the police fee added up to $24,521.

“As you know, a lot of these events have been closed in other cities,” Grewe said. “I don’t support closing it. …While we did have a couple [incidents] last year, overall the event was a success.” He also added that police could shut down the fair early if the need ever arose.

Commissioners approved the special event application in a unanimous 7-0 vote.