[1] The Koyandy Fair opened in 1848 when merchant Barnabas Botov first began buying cattle on the banks of the Taldy[2] north of Karkaraly.
[3] The following year, new buyers arrived and soon people from Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Urals, Central Asia and western China were visiting the fair.
In the two central rows were Russian and Siberian merchants trading iron and copper goods, textiles and tea.
[5] One merchant raised so much money that upon his death, his children made a headstone of black marble for him, something that was unprecedented in this area of the world.
Visiting Akyns, singers and dombra players included Maira Ualukyzy, Kalybek Kuanyshpaev and paluan Hadzhi Mukana.
Abai Kunanbaev (the father of Kazakh literature) and Baluan Sholak (composer and famous wrestler) are known to have visited the fair.
For 80 years the fair played a major role in the development of the region as a center of business and entertainment.