News from Gisborne Market

The first market of the year was on New Year’s Day, so we had a smaller market given the date and possible headaches of our stallholders and market goers.

Despite it being a public holiday, stallholders indicated that they had a good trading day and that crowds were constant throughout the day. The weather was good so this certainly helped in bringing crowds out.

The February market was once again a full market with large crowds throughout the day and again we were blessed with beautiful weather. It was wonderful to see Gisborne alive with tourism and the benefits this brings to our local businesses.

The market committee acknowledges that for one day a month Gisborne is extremely busy, but the benefits to the town and the Macedon Ranges Shire are undeniable and much needed after COVID lockdowns, which saw many businesses suffer.

The market has now employed a traffic management company to place signs around Gisborne on market days and also two traffic controllers at the entrance to the football oval on market days. This is now required by any group that uses roads owned by the Department of Transport.

This has placed a financial impost on the GREAT (Gisborne Region Events Activities and Tourism) organisation but we have no other options.

The market is run by a volunteer committee who receive no financial payment for the work they do each month. This includes the many hours between markets that it takes to organise stallholders etc.

Many tourists as well as local people visit the market.

We are always looking for more volunteers to assist us on market day, so if you have been thinking of doing some local volunteer work, please give us a thought. We can be found in the market office next to the library on market days from 9am to 2pm. We are also in the GREAT office in Hamilton Street on Monday, Thursday and Friday from 9.30 to 11am.

The money earned by the market is given back to community organisations that are in need of financial assistance. Community groups can apply for financial assistance by requesting an application form via email to greatgisborne@gmail.com and this will then be reviewed by the committee to ensure the request meets our funding criteria.

All requests will be treated equally and without bias. We look forward to assisting more community groups in 2023-24.

Karan, Olde Time Market Committee