Weatherproof market for winter

A NEW opportunity for the chillier months is how the organiser of Ballarat Farmers Market is seeing its new winter venue in the city’s showgrounds.

The market will be held in June, July and August at the showgrounds before returning to North Gardens for warmer months.

Stephen Burns, manager of the Ballarat Farmers Market, said the reason behind the venue change-up was accommodating patrons and stallholders with the city’s unpredictable weather.

The market will be held in the showgrounds’ enclosed equestrian centre.

Mr Burns said unpleasant weather could be tough for both patrons and stallholders.

He said the main reason the market was being held at the showgrounds for those months was “to give everybody certainty that they will be warm and dry regardless of the day”.

“What we want to do is provide a regular opportunity, twice a month for people from Ballarat to come to the market to get what they need,” he said. “And we want to do it in a way that’s comfortable for them and there’s some certainty in security.”

Stephen Burns from Ballarat Farmers Market said the showgrounds’ equestrian centre would provide certainty and comfort in June, July and August.

Mr Burns said the venue offered space and comfort from the elements for patrons and more than 120 stalls.

The North Gardens would still be the market’s home, said Mr Burns, who had recently signed a multi-year licence to continue using the lakeside space.

“The North Gardens Reserve will absolutely remain our home,” he said. “We love it. We love the size, we love the location next to the lake next to the gardens.”

He said the winter markets could present an opportunity to offer a permanent event residents rely on.

“I think we’re just going to have people who just want to get out and about, if it is a rainy, dark winter, to just come and hang out with a bunch of other people, get a bit of a good vibe going. And I think that’ll build its own identity over a few years.”

Ballarat Agricultural & Pastoral Society executive director Belinda Glass said the idea of an indoor market at the showgrounds had been received “really positively”.

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