More pain for stallholders as weather sinks market

THE start of the Hobart Twilight Market will be postponed, with the first instalment of the event cancelled because of the weather forecast.

Operations manager Justin Davies said the market operated at Brooke St Pier and at Sandy Bay’s Long Beach.

“The decision to cancel a market is one of the toughest parts of being a market operator,” Mr Davies said.

“However we need to prevent losses to stallholders, musicians, and other support staff by announcing the cancellation at the earliest possible time.”

Mr Davies said Friday’s market had been cancelled.

“We feel quite bad this has happened, but we can’t operate an outdoor event in the weather predicted in the last 24 hours,” he said.

“The market location is on a grass reserve, so consideration needs to be given to the potential damage to the surface.”

Mr Davies said the cancellation would be tough on stallholders.

“With lots of events cancelled due to Covid, stallholders would be disappointed they can’t operate at what would be a regular market.”

“There’s no doubt the last 18 months have been challenging with a forced shutdown with the pandemic, along with the loss of five markets at Long Beach Sandy Bay.”

The market will be rescheduled to next Friday, October 8, depending on weather conditions.

“Long Beach would be our most popular market, it’s where we started way back in 2014,” Mr Davies said.