Long-running market returns

THE Ballarat Market is emerging from lockdown and its winter hibernation period, reopening on Sunday, 7 November.

Rotary Club of Ballarat South’s Helen Newall, a market committee member, said her team has been working hard since their mid-July closure, to ensure they can “bring joy back into the community’s lives” on Sunday mornings again.

“We are ecstatic to open up again and offer a space for people wanting to take their family on a weekend outing,” she said.

“We’ve been communicating with our regular stallholder list, and the feedback we’ve been getting is that people are really looking forward to coming back and opening again.

“What’s really apparent is that they’ve the social interaction. Some of our stallholders are stalwarts that have been coming for 20 or 30 years, and they are like a family. They communicate and look out for one another, so they are excited to reconnect.”

Ms Newall said not only have the market’s regular stallholders “suffered,” during the almost-four-month closure, but the Rotary Club has too.

“A lot of people rely on the Club for funding support through our myriad of programs, from school breakfast clubs, to apprenticeships, nursing, and youth leadership camps,” she said.

“We’re hoping to see as many smiling faces as possible at the reopening of our market, to support us and our many stallholders that come Sunday after Sunday. The market is part of their fabric.”

The market committee may be driving an iconic traditional grassroots event, but Ms Newall said they don’t want to “stand still,” and are keen to “think outside the box,” diversifying their offerings and the stallholder groups they welcome.

“We’re asking as many people as possible to consider having a stall. Clubs can come down, sell some of their wares, and it’s a new way of connecting with the community and finding new members.

“For shops or enterprises within Ballarat, the market is a great way to do some advertising and get face-to-face contact with people. It’s a fantastic way for anyone to get their message across,” she said.

“We’d also like to increase the number of food vans and fruit and veg sellers. We have a lot of interesting and boutique producers in the area, and as a mixed market, we want to complement Ballarat’s other produce markets.”

Each stallholder needs to have their own public liability insurance, their own State Government QR check-in codes and COVID safety plans. The market also needs proof of double vaccination.

Stallholders can book and pay by 6pm on the Thursday evening before the market.

“We want to open with confidence,” Ms Newall said.

To ensure safety, stallholders can arrive at the Creswick Road entrance between 6am and 8am. Customers are asked to arrive between 8am and 1pm.