After an extended layoff, the Bridge Mall Farmers Market has returned, welcoming the community to shop with some of the region's local producers.
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SEE SOME OF THE STALLHOLDERS AT THE MARKET RIGHT HERE:
Despite the cold and wet conditions, the market saw a steady stream of community members perusing the stalls and supporting local businesses.
One of those businesses was local snack food producer Ellen Burns from We Bar None, who told The Courier the return to the Bridge Mall was her first market since COVID-19 restrictions came into place earlier in the year.
Despite some anxiety over the number of people who may or may not have attended the market coming into Saturday morning, Ms Burns said she was very pleased with how everything went.
"I was pretty excited for it to be back on," she said.
"I was a little bit nervous, it was my first market back since March. After seeing what the numbers were like in Daylesford last week I was concerned about the number of people who may have attended, however after seeing the weather on Saturday morning my concern shifted to the potential for no one to be there.
"Thankfully it fell somewhere in the middle and it was really just like a normal Winter market."
Ms Burns was pleased to be back trading at the market as it makes up for a large proportion of her revenue.
Moving forward, she added she hoped the Ballarat community will continue to support local markets in and around the region.
These markets are hugely important for my business.
- Ellen Burns from We Bar None
"They make up a fairly substantial part of my income as well as being the way that I really established my business," she continued.
"It's really important for the Ballarat community to continue supporting local markets and local businesses. Over lockdown we saw a lot of people trying to support local businesses and discovering how many great producers we have locally."
These sentiments were echoed by Bridge Mall general manager Germaine Davey, who said she was proud of how the public acted during the market.
"All in all I was very happy with the market. A lot of work went into it and I'm very happy with the result," she said.
"It's crucial that the community continues to support these activities so we can continue to have these activities in Ballarat. It's important to support local businesses during this time because that's how we continue to grow as an economy.
"I also think it was a testament to why Ballarat doesn't have a high number of COVID-19 cases, because people did the right things... they socially distanced, they followed the rules and they acted responsibly.
"There was a worry we may have been painted as something similar to the Daylesford Market, however we showed that our community can act responsibly."
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