Market ‘under new management’

By Lachlan Ellis

Change is coming to the Darley Market, and its new organisers are eager to hear from the community on how to improve the market.

While the Darley Market has generally been run by members of the Darley Football Netball Club (DFNC) over the years, the market has come under more direct management by the Devils this month.

DFNC President Mark Shelly acknowledged a decrease in stallholders and patrons at the Darley Market in recent times, but said the club was welcoming community suggestions on how to improve and revitalise the market.

“We’ve had some complications based around availability of the ground, because we had portables up where the stallholders would usually be, because of the pavilion being built. So unfortunately, over a period of time, the number of stallholders has become less and less,” Mr Shelly told the Moorabool News.

“Before Christmas last year, Grace informed us that she’d be unable to keep running the market on behalf of the club, so it’s fallen to the club to kind of resurrect it. One thing we’ve done, with the assistance of Ally Edwards and Ray Newton, is we’ve reached out to make sure our communication with past and existing stallholders is second to none.

“We’ve also conducted a customer survey to get feedback, about what we can do to improve the market. We understand we’ve got to keep trying to make things better, and by talking to people, we can obtain some invaluable feedback to get the market back on track.”

Mr Shelly said the market would also have a greater online presence and “think outside the square” to get more patrons to the market, with early ideas in the pipeline including running Darley training sessions alongside the market for people to watch while browsing, and a twilight market.

Anyone with feedback or suggestions is encouraged to email [email protected], or message ‘Darley Community Market’ on Facebook.