SUNRAYSIA’S biggest outdoor market will return next month almost one year since it was last held.
The Red Cliffs Country Market committee breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday, when they were given the green light by Mildura Rural City Council to revive the market for the first Sunday of March.
“There’s been a a lot of work behind the scenes to meet the requirements, but we’re very excited to have it back up and running,” committee member Janice Goulding said.
“Because our market is probably the biggest in the district, it was perhaps a little difficult to get it over the line.
“But we’ve got a good COVID-safe plan in place and we will have lots of signage, QR codes, sanitisers and all the things that are necessary to hold the market.”
Ms Goulding said while she was unsure of which stall holders would be returning, there was a good chance it would be “a normal size for this time of year”.
“We usually get quite a few more than 100 stalls and I think you you could safely say we’ll get well over that,” she said.
“There might be a few older stall holders who are nervous about being out in public and that’s understandable.
“But we will have so much in place that it should be a pretty safe place to go.
“Stalls will be spaced throughout the town as usual with lots of social distancing signs and divided walkways where necessary and things like that.”
Ms Goulding said while Red Cliffs had remained resilient throughout the pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns, the return of the market posed many benefits for the town.
“It will be really good socially, so people can meet up, business-wise, to give the shops a bit of a kickstart and for the blockies that might have grown a few tomatoes or grapes or whatever, to have another market to sell on,” she said.
“One of the reasons why the market was introduced was to help put Red Cliffs on the map.
“And we’re still working with the focus group to make it somewhere people enjoy visiting for shopping or for something to eat at our fantastic cafes.”
The market will be held from 9am until 1pm, subject to public health restrictions. For details, see The Red Cliffs Country Market group on Facebook.
