Market Operation Suspended due to COVID-19 concerns

The Ballarat Market suspension continues,

and we will not be open this Sunday.

New Restricted Activity Directions have been released [16th September 2020, Restricted Activity Directions (Non-Melbourne) (No 5)] that appear to allow general markets to operate. These directions expire at 11:59:00 pm on 11 October 2020.

The Ballarat market operates three undercover areas and the safe operation of these areas requires some extra procedures and safeguards to be put in place.

The market operations committee is busy looking at all the requirements of these restrictions plus the Say Safe directions, Workplace directions and COVID-safe requirements. We hope to be opening the market in early November.

We realise that there is a severe economic impact on the stallholders, our suppliers, the Rotary Club of Ballarat South and its community service. The Ballarat Market must operate in a COVID safe way to protect all; public, stallholders and volunteers.

The market committee has planned for the resumption of the market and will be able to reopen the market at short notice once the restrictions are sufficiently relaxed and we consider the market’s operations to be safe to all.

There are changes to site booking and there will cashless transactions. The market will be operated so that social distancing is achievable.   Sanitising stations and notices re COVID safe practices will be installed at strategic locations.

There will be entry and exit control to the pavilions and we may need to limit the number of people on the whole site to avoid the crowding experienced at other markets.

The Ballarat Market has a large offering of goods for sale and is not exclusively for foodstuffs. The re-opening was planned for mid-July when the reduction of restrictions meant we could operate successfully. Control of social distancing is difficult and, in some cases, not practicable, on the market site. For the safety of all we are interpreting the regulations conservatively and the current 20-person limit per enclosed space means we cannot effectively run the pavilions.

Now that suburbs have been locked down in Melbourne it is prudent to continue the suspension to reduce the possibility of the market spreading the infection. We do not want to open the market and close it again, especially at short notice, as has happened with other markets.

Things are in place to open the market once restrictions are lifted and we consider it safe to do so.   We see this as a great opportunity to streamline to operations of the market and enhance the offering to the stallholders and public.

Once the opening date is set, we will let all stallholders, public and volunteers know the detail of the changes and the new way we will have to run the market. With the help of all we expect to make the market reopening a success.

For updates on the situation please return to this website or the Ballarat Market Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/marketballarat/ .