Byron Farmers Market returned to Butler Street Reserve last Thursday for their first market on home turf in two-and-a-half years. And while it was a rather soggy return – after the wettest November in 100 years – it was a welcome one for both stallholders and customers.
‘It was great to be back on our home soil, literally,’ said market manager, Tom Carey. ‘We’ve been on asphalt out at the Cavanbah Centre so it was a good feeling. Yes, the ground was wet, but we live in the subtropics, so it’s to be expected, and we’ve just come out of one of the highest rainfall periods on record.
‘As an outdoor market, we just have to run with the weather. As farmers, we’ll take the rain over drought any day. And the upside is we are now so easily accessible to town via the walkway across the railway corridor. There were lots of people walking and cycling from town to the market too, which is great.’
Mr Carey said there were some teething problems, primarily with parking, as customers can no longer park on the reserve itself owing to an Environment Protection Authority ruling to limit vehicle movement on the site. However, there are a number of solutions.
‘As well as free off-street customer parking at the back of the reserve, off Somerset St, near the toilet block, there are new parking regulations in place along the northern side of Somerset Street with free one-hour parking for market days, between 6am and 1am on Thursdays,’ he said.
‘These did fill up quickly, but there are two other nearby car parks that were not being used – Lawson St South car park is less than 100m across the road from the market grounds. It’s less than a minute’s walk, straight across the railway corridor, and it was virtually empty on Thursday so we need to get the word out to people about it.
‘There’s also a heap of parking available behind the Rails – again, it’s now just an easy walk across the railway corridor. Once people realise that these areas are now easily accessible to Butler St Reserve via the rail corridor, I think the issue with parking we experienced last week will be resolved.’
So if you’re heading to the farmers’ market next Thursday, make use of the easy-access parking areas available.
Byron Farmers Market is held every Thursday 7–11am at Butler St Reserve.
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