Until recently panayırs (fairs) provided a rare venue for trade, entertainment, and socialization in small towns and cities across Turkey. This paper examines the reflections of the panayır culture and its 20th century transformations in Turkish films. Films about the panayır from different decades display strong parallels to the changes occurring in the panayır culture during the same period. Some of the panayır films provide us with a window into the everyday lives of panayır workers; others highlight the entertainment function of the panayırs. More recent films on the panayır reflect a profound sense of nostalgia (by writers and directors) for a culture that has been in a gradual but seemingly irreversible decline. While there are few films that focus completely on panayırs (such as Hazan Mevsimi), there are a number of films that deal with the panayır to some degree (such as Ateş Parçası, Eğreti Gelin, Vizontele). Despite the opportunities it offers for a better understanding of the panayır phenomenon, so far no scholarly work has considered the panayır through films. This study seeks to fill that gap. We have identified three particularly salient themes in panayır films. Drawing on a number of films made between the 1960s and the current decade, we will focus on social life/social class, gender, and nostalgia for the disappearing panayır tradition. First, films offer important insights into the daily life at panayırs, the itinerant life style, poverty, social hierarchies among the panayır workers, and class backgrounds of panayır artists and spectators. Secondly, these films reveal panayırs as a gendered form of entertainment. The female singers and dancers appear as the primary object of desire of the all male spectators. The gendered hieararchy is also visible in the relations between female workers and the panayır managers. The films also reveal the changes over time in the public perception of female panayır artists. The third aspect concerns the decline of the panayır as an institution. In recent decades there has been a gradual decline in public interest in panayırs due to changes such as urbanization, improved communications, and the spread of alternative forms of entertainment. The more recent films bear witness to the decline of the panayır, revealing the nostalgia for the panayırs of the past and the grief for the disappearance of a tradition. In sum, this paper contributes to the knowledge about the panayır by exploring its reflections in cinema through the decades.