The bollards are removed from the entrance of Nottingham's Forest Recreation Ground as a convoy of huge lorries arrive and a flock of enthusiasts ready their cameras to capture the "magic" and the mechanics behind the Goose Fair.

"It's just the craziest pull-on of any fair but it's also the best one to watch - just to see the madness.

"It's our highlight of the year," said Graham Ciborski.

Before any other visitors arrive, he joins a group of other fairground enthusiasts who have travelled from across the country to watch the pull-on - the arrival of the rides, equipment and trailers - and build-up to the event.

Graham is one half of the brother-sister duo behind Cibbie Vlogs - part of a niche community of content creators who exclusively cover funfairs across the country.

Their videos are watched by tens of thousands of followers.

Guy Belshaw, a trustee of the Fairground Heritage Trust, said the enthusiasts are documenting today's fairs for "generations to come" and likens them to train spotters.

More than 1,000 people watched the first update of the Ciborskis' new mini-series called Goosey Gander, in which the pair undertook a reconnaissance of the empty recreation ground before any of the rides had arrived.

"It's fascinating how the rides put together.

"You see them on a lorry and as they park up it kind of unfolds off the trailer. To watch it, it's surreal," said Jennifer Ciborski.

"Goose" - as they call it - has a special place in the siblings' hearts, having grown up in Nottingham.

The fair has a long history in the city, dating back to at least 1284, when the Charter of King Edward I referred to city fairs in Nottingham.

It started as a trade event and once held a reputation for its high-quality cheese.

In the 1920s, the fair was moved from Market Square, in the city centre, to its current location at the Forest Recreation Ground.

The event has retained a number of traditions over the years, including some of the family-run food stalls, and of course, the arrival of Goosey, the fair's 6ft 6ins (2m) fibreglass mascot, to the Mansfield Road roundabout.

Jennifer, 40, a care home cook, said: "You've got showmen who have been here for years, generations, with their old traditions, you've got the cock-on-a-stick [a cockerel-shaped treat stall], your mushy peas."

"We're the biggest kids at the fair and we always will be," 45-year-old warehouse worker Graham added.

The Ciborskis travel to different fairs every year, but this year being a "slower year", they said they had "only" managed 50.

Meanwhile, William Holmes, from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, has lost count of how many fairgrounds he has visited this year.

The 19-year-old is driven around the county by his parents from fair to fair as he edits his videos on the move.

Having studied media at A-level, William is now job hunting, but his UK Funfairs TV YouTube channel and affiliated Facebook page - with a collective following of more than 30,000 followers - keeps him busy.

Covering the Goose Fair pull-on alone has earned him a "big following", he said.

"It's the excitement of the rides. They like to appreciate what hard work goes into setting up a fair. It's really exciting."

Goose Fair is one of the country's "Big Four" funfairs, according to the vloggers, along with The Hoppings in Newcastle upon Tyne, Hull Fair in Kingston upon Hull and The Links Market in Kirkcaldy, Scotland.

William said: "Goose Fair always pulls the best rides in my opinion.

"We've got the Aerospace and Top Scan from Barry Island (in Wales). No other fair in the country gets them so Nottingham's very lucky."

Top Scan is a favourite among the content creators and their followers alike, according to the hundreds of comments on their videos.

The ride is a hydraulic lifting and tilting arm which is attached to a rotating axis.

At the end of the arm are six rotating gondolas where passengers sit. As the main arm spins and moves up and down, the gondolas flip and tumble on their own axes.

William prefers to take his followers along for the ride, rather than speak to them in his videos.

"I love music, I love the lights I love the smoke machines, the lasers the strobe lights,

"Everything that's a sensory thing, overload, I love it."

His channel is also about paying homage to the showpeople who travel around the country.

"I've come to fairs all my life, had a great time, and now I want to give back to the showmen that gave me that good time when I was younger," he said.

Paul Taylor travels across the country from Blackpool with his "thrill-junkie" son, often visiting more than one fair each day.

The 38-year-old behind PT Vlogs UK shares his fairground escapades with more than 19,000 followers on YouTube and more than 83,000 on Facebook.

By Friday, when Goose Fair opened, more than 12,000 people had watched Paul's YouTube coverage of the pull-on and build-up of the rides.

"To watch the preparations of the set up of one of the biggest fairs of the UK which has a lot of excitement behind it.

"We get to see and showcase what other people don't get to see.

"There's the pull-on, there's the build-up, and there's a magic without the fair being open," he told the BBC.

Paul said the experience of a fairground like Goose Fair was like no other and "until your experience it yourselves, you can't say otherwise".

"The speed, lasers, lights, atmosphere, music - we also hear MC-ing, we get smoke machines.

"It puts you in another place and you leave wanting more," he said.

Guy Belshaw, a historian for Fairground Heritage Trust - which preserves historic fairground equipment and imagery - said fairs had come a long way since the advances of steam power in the 1870s.

Fairs were originally agricultural events started by Royal Charter in the 14th century, he said

"They were red letter days when servants were given the day off and children had a day off from school," he said.

According to Belshaw, steam power led to the "golden age" for funfairs, from the 1870s to the late 19th century.

"Moving picture first appeared at the fairground, that was a real sensation," he said.

A number of older rides still feature at fairgrounds, with a section at the Goose Fair dedicated to "vintage" rides

Although the pull-on may be ceremonious to fairground fans, Belshaw said it was all part of the logistics of "moving from A to B".

"The fairground is a business, it's not a hobby, it's a hard-nosed business for the people who run the rides," he said.

Those businesses were often family-run with plots at the Goose Fair handed down through generations.

However, he added the "relatively small community" of enthusiasts played an important role in "sharing the evolution of the fairground with future generations".

He added: "Fairground were originally looked down on as working-class entertainment, but it seems pretty classless now,

"It's partly escapism from everyday life and partly for the thrill seekers."

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