Booking an Exhibition Ground in Kolkata: What to Sort Out, and in What Order

Seasonality factors in if you are searching for a venue between October 2026-March 2027. Kolkata’s fair calendar is partially shaped by the weather, and everybody in the trade knows it, which is why the good months get booked early. From the middle of October, and from December through March the air is dry, the evenings are pleasant, and open exhibitions draw large crowds.

Which means a December slot is often a March conversation. It also means a fair falling outside that window carries a different cost base altogether, because covering, flooring and drainage are vital to your event’s success. Work that out before you compare quotations rather than after.

At P.C. Chandra Garden the four spaces are sized quite differently.

The Meadows gives you a roughly 4,500 sq ft air-conditioned hall, a 1,700 sq ft food arena and about 2,000 sq ft of lawn, for up to 400. Boutique lifestyle fairs and single- brand showcases sit well here, where footfall is invited rather than ticketed.

The Tulip runs to about 6,000 sq ft of hall, a 3,000 sq ft food arena and 5,500 sq ft of lawn, for up to 600, the lawn earning its keep as a spill zone for food counters or live demonstrations while the hall carries the display.

The Maple pairs a 2,300 sq ft hall with roughly 33,000 sq ft of lawn and takes up to 1,500, a ratio that makes it a proper open-ground option with somewhere covered to work from.

Gold Acres is the largest, with about 60,000 sq ft of lawn split into a lower section of roughly 40,000 sq ft and an upper section of about 20,000 sq ft, plus around 5,800 sq ft of covered area including a 1,000 sq ft air-conditioned lounge and two guest rooms.

It holds up to 2,500 pax and has carried government-backed events before, among them a national jute exhibition under the Ministry of Textiles’ Market Access Initiative.

Our venues offer two connected sections that let you run a trade zone separately from a general-entry zone, or keep sponsor stands clear of the main aisle. Talk to our team for more details as per your requirements.

Commercial activity inside
Kolkata’s municipal limits call for a Certificate of Enlistment under Section 199 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act 1980, the city’s version of a trade licence, renewed annually, and event organisers fall squarely within its scope. You’ll want police permission for a public gathering too, applied for through the relevant commissionerate, which along the EM Bypass means Kolkata Police.

None of the three waits on the others. Open all of them in the same week rather than
treating them as a sequence, and you’ll claw back more calendar time than anything
else on this page will give you.

The generator conversation to have early
Work out your connected load before you talk numbers with anyone, counting stall points, lighting rigs, food-counter equipment and air conditioning if you’re using covered space. Then put three questions to the venue. What standing supply is available, what backup exists and whether it changes over automatically, and whether stall distribution runs through the venue’s own electrician or a contractor you bring in yourself.

At P.C. Chandra Garden that last one has a short answer, because there’s an empanelled electrician working alongside the empanelled decorator and florist. Your stall wiring gets handled by someone who already knows how supply runs across the ground, which tends to make the fire application read a good deal cleaner.

That same empanelled arrangement covers décor and catering, and it’s more flexible than organisers tend to expect. Setups are put together to your brief rather than picked off a fixed menu, and catering can be vegetarian-only or mixed depending on what your exhibitors and visitors need. Settle that scope alongside the floor plan and you save yourself a round of emails.

Draw the aisles before you draw the stalls
Floor plans tend to get drawn stall-first, which is precisely how a fair ends up with a pinch point at the gate. The international display guidelines most organisers work to size a standard in-line stall at 10 ft by 10 ft, with back walls held to around 8 ft so sightlines stay open across the floor. Aisles are commonly planned at a minimum of 10 ft, wider on routes you expect to carry traffic.

Remember that your aisle is also your escape route. Mark the exits first, then lay stalls into what’s left, keeping entry and exit points clear of the food zone and fire tender access open for the whole run of the fair. Washrooms deserve the same early attention, because permanent facilities count for far more than portable units by hour six of a long day.

Ask about the rain even if you’re booking December
For any open-ground fair sitting outside the dry window, ask the venue directly about drainage and what the lawn does after a heavy shower. Raised decking, covered walkways between zones and a plan for moving the entry queue under shelter are what separate a fair that carries on from one that quietly empties out. Ask at quotation stage and get the answer in writing, because a site visit in bright January sunshine tells you nothing about August.

Draw the aisles before you draw the stalls
Floor plans tend to get drawn stall-first, which is precisely how a fair ends up with a pinch point at the gate. The international display guidelines most organisers work to size a standard in-line stall at 10 ft by 10 ft, with back walls held to around 8 ft so sightlines stay open across the floor. Aisles are commonly planned at a minimum of 10 ft, wider on routes you expect to carry traffic.

Remember that your aisle is also your escape route. Mark the exits first, then lay stalls into what’s left, keeping entry and exit points clear of the food zone and fire tender access open for the whole run of the fair. Washrooms deserve the same early attention, because permanent facilities count for far more than portable units by hour six of a long day.

Ask about the rain even if you’re booking December For any open-ground fair sitting outside the dry window, ask the venue directly about drainage and what the lawn does after a heavy shower. Raised decking, covered walkways between zones and a plan for moving the entry queue under shelter are what separate a fair that carries on from one that empties out. Ask at quotation stage and get the answer in writing, because a site visit in bright January sunshine tells you nothing about August.